I recently got the opportunity to take on a project that I had wanted to do for a while. A teammate of Yeardley Love's asked me to dye a head using the colors and symbols of the One Love Foundation, and I was more than happy to do it. I tried out a new way of doing the scoop, and combined a few methods that I think turned into a simple and effective dye.
To start, I wanted to isolate just the scoop so that I wouldn't have to hot glue and tape the whole thing. Now that its all said and done, I'll probably just hot glue and tape the whole thing next time... it took forever! I cut a few pieces of plastic out of a laundry detergent bottle to make a little trough for the dye on top of the vinyl. Getting it in position and making sure everything was sealed just wasn't worth the hassle.
Next, I scattered the One Love heart logos along the inner sidewalls, and laid down their motto "Inspire Others" across the front of the head. At the throat I put down my friend's number, so that it would stand apart from her initials. Making sure everything was pressed and sealed properly, I took it up to the stove.
To start, I ladled dye into my cool little cup. The water would cool quickly, so I had to do this a few times. I made sure when I was dumping out the water that none splashed or dribbled onto the white parts of the head. If you're going all white, you have to keep it clean. When I was satisfied with my light blue, I dipped the bottom of the head in for the first part of the fade.
In between blues, I put down the rest of her initials, added a large Heart to the ball stop area, and then used hot glue to cover up the 1 in the N and the Heart. When that was done, I begin ladling the dark blue. Again, it took a few times to get it properly dark blue. When that was finished I swirled the bottom of the head around to finish up the fade, making sure to leave a little light blue towards the top.
When it was all done, I rinsed in cold water and started scraping everything off. Having not strung a women's stick in a while, it took me a sec to remember why there were strings hanging off the tracker center. Silly shooting strings... I put the hockey laces away and mixed it up with a couple shades of blue to top it all off. Nothing like accenting a nice dye with the proper color coordinated outfit.
If you like the dye, (and even if you don't!) make sure you take some time to check out the One Love Foundation and all they are doing at http://www.joinonelove.org/
To keep up with the sticks mid-process and everything else that comes out of my dye lab, check out McCool's Dye Shop at https://www.facebook.com/mccoolsdyeshop
Also, just a pro tip: Getting "Hover Zoom" or something similar for your browser makes looking at this site (and just about all others) a LOT quicker. If you want to see these pics in their original size without clicking and waiting every time, go to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hover-zoom/nonjdcjchghhkdoolnlbekcfllmednbl?hl=en (that's for Chrome users, but Firefox has one too).
Until next time!