Silk Dyeing Class

CLASS:  Dyeing Silk Fabrics 

March 24, 2018
1:00 pm - 4:30 pm

If you've ever wanted to make your own hand-painted silk scarves this is your chance! Hand-dyed silk scarves are a sure winner for gifts of all kinds. You'll have time to dye 6-8 scarves and they will be ready to wear home.

Using safe dyes, I will walk you through the entire process from prepping, to dyeing, overdyeing, rinsing and pressing.  This is a small class taught at my home studio of no more than four people.  Plenty of individual attention.

There are just a couple of spots left, so register soon!  For all the details and registration, go HERE.

You can see all of my classes HERE.

Feeling the Blues

The weather has been good for dyeing this week and I thought I'd take advantage and do a few more colors before it gets too cold to dye well.

I have lots of blues on the list this week.  This is the first - Night Sky.  Deep dark blues, navy, brooding purples.   This afternoon I'm doing Blue Peacock and then Wednesday, it's Aurora.

Given all the crazy events of this past few weeks and days, I wasn't surprised to realize I was feeling the blues.   My heart goes out to all affected by the recent tragedies.  You are loved.

2017 Classes and Calendar

I've scheduled several new classes this year to be taught here at my studio and I'm really excited that they're on the calendar. 

This is a huge benefit to participants because the classes will be small [max 4] with an emphasis on individual questions, projects and consultations.

Here's the link to my whole calendar so you can see all my classes including the ones taught elsewhere.

This is what I'll be teaching this year:

• Color theory
• Intermediate spinning on a spinning wheel:  Plying
• Dyeing cotton yarns
• Dyeing cotton fabrics [for you quilters!]
• Dyeing silk scarves
• Natural dyes

Follow the links on the calendar to the registration pages for each class.   You can register and pay online.

There is a significant discount if you register early for one of the classes held here at my studio .  

As always, I'm super happy to answer your questions.   Email me. 

More New Colors: Blue Peacock

...And another new colorway for the summer! 

This one was the result of a collaboration with a client who wanted one of the other colorways tweaked a bit.   So I tweaked....

...and totally fell in love with the result.   Blue Peacock is one of my new favorite colorways.

Pic above: Sparrow cotton/rayon yarn, Silk Bamboo yarn, Moonbeam rayon ribbon, Stella raw silk yarn.

Pic right:  Moonbeam, large skein, rayon ribbon yarn. 

All of these yarns are on Etsy now....
www.robinjedmundson.etsy.com

New Colors: Red Oak

Every so often I get the urge to play with color in the studio and work up some more colorways.   I've got two in the works.

This is one is Red Oak.   I've been thinking about it for a long time.   Earthy reds, rust, brown and purple.   

Pic above:  superwash tencel roving, Moonbeam rayon ribbon, Nuthatch cabled yarn, Stella raw silk yarn.

Right:  Firefly yarn - superwash wool/tencel fingering weight.   My favorite yarn ever.

All of these yarns are available in my Etsy shop, right now.  www.robinjedmundson.etsy.com

June Color and Dyeing Classes

There is still time to sign up for a class with me this month.

Saturday, June 27, 2015
9am - 5pm
Includes lunch!
White Violet Center
St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana
[just west of Terre Haute]

Morning:   Color Harmonies
Afternoon:  Dyeing protein/animal fibers

You can register for one or both classes here:  http://spsmw.org/event-details/color-basics-and-harmoniesdyeing-animal-and-protein-fibers/

These are some of the most fun classes I teach all year!  In the morning we do a review of basic color theory, then talk about common color harmonies and learn about using color tools and then we start our own color notebooks!   It's a great time - full of laughter, learning and friendship.

In the afternoon, I take you step by step through the dyeing process so that you can learn to dye your own fibers at home.   We focus on protein/animal fibers in this class, using safe and easy-to-use acid dyes.    It's a great time and you'll go home with an armload of your own hand dyed yarns for projects. 

Details and registration information at the White Violet website here: http://spsmw.org/event-details/color-basics-and-harmoniesdyeing-animal-and-protein-fibers/

Come for one class or come for all day!  I hope to see you there!

The Fiber Event at Greencastle, Indiana

I left the pic big because this yarn is really pretty.

Stella Silk.   ~1350 yds.  8oz.  Hand-dyed, raw silk.   Laceweight.

Dyeing season has started and I've been gearing up for our next big fabulous show in just a few weeks!

The Fiber Event at Greencastle, Indiana, 2014 

www.thefiberevent.com

Friday, April 18:  10:30 am - 7 pm

Saturday, April 19: 9 am - 4 pm

Free admission.  Free parking

Putnam County Fairgrounds, just north of Greencastle, Indiana

I hope to see you there!   Please stop in our booth in the Community Building and say hello.   We'll have loads of dyed yarns, dyed silks, soap and soapsets and samples galore!

If you want us to bring something for you to pick up at the show, please let me know via email [robin at morenna dot com] and we'll have it ready for you when you come.

In the Studio

Look what's come out of the studio lately!    Sunset is on the left and Aurora on the right.    I'm getting a lot of terrific yarns ready for the Bloomington Spinners and Weavers Guild Fiber Arts Sale in November.    It seems like a long time away, but it will be here sooner than I think. 

Natural Dye Experiments: Part 2

This is part 2 of the final report from our natural dye experiments.     From top to bottom, the dyes are:

Indigo
Comfrey
Goldenrod
Osage Orange
Walnuts
Apple twigs
Madder
Brazilwood
Cochineal
Logwood

I can never decide if I like them best organized by fiber, or by color.

In the end, I think I like looking at them by color the best.   Of course.

See Part 1 for how we organized the experiments and the full list of fibers, mordants, etc.   The fibers that turned out best for us were: mohair, silk, alpaca, wool and superwash wool.   [Since the wool and alpaca looked pretty much alike, I'm not going to talk about it in this post.   So sorry.]  These were the protein fibers.

The cellulose fibers didn't take the dye very well with the dye methods we were using.   So, First Lesson - plant fibers and animal fibers require different dye methods when using natural dyes.

Dyeing went this way:

• prep dye
• pre-mordant fibers and rinse
• cook in dyebath for at least an hour
• rinse
• postmordant and rinse
• afterbath and rinse.

This is the mohair.   Gorgeous, isn't it.   We loved the way mohair took natural dyes.   The dyes again from left to right are:  indigo, comfrey, goldenrod, osage orange, walnut, apple twigs, madder, brazilwood, cochineal, logwood.

The superwash really took the dye.   Much darker than any of the rest of the fibers we tried.  This is typical of superwash in general.    It does not behave like wool with dye.  Superwash wool is treated so that it doesn't felt as much.     It will felt.  I have proof.  But it can handle a lot more abuse than plain wool - which felts if you look at it cross-eyed on a humid day.

Here's the silk.   I wish the photo did that luster justice.    Naturally dyed silk just glows.  So pretty!

The fiber that I think did best with the natural dyes was alpaca.    It took the dyes beautifully, retained its softness and luster and glowed like the silk.    Absolutely gorgeous. 

When you look at the card this way, you can immediately see which mordants and mordant combinations  produced the best color and the best variety of color.

Hands down, alum is the winner.    It's also the safest mordant to use - it's very safe.   If you have to use only one mordant with your natural dyes, then choose alum as the premordant.

Here's a different perspective of the alpaca samples above.    The left set of the samples was pre-mordanted with tin.  The center set of the samples is the one with alum as the pre-mordant.  The right set had no pre-mordant at all. 

Look at the center sets.    All of these were pre-mordanted with alum and tartaric acid.

See the darkest set of samples in the center of every dye card?    Those were post-mordanted with iron.  The top dark one had an additional afterbath in an ammonia solution at the very end.  The second dark one had no additional afterbath.  

The pair of samples just above the iron ones was post-mordanted in copper.   The top of that pair had an additional afterbath in an ammonia solution at the very end.  The lower of that pair had no additional afterbath. 

The top pair of alum samples was post-mordanted in tin.  The top of that pair had an additional afterbath in an ammonia solution at the very end.  The lower of that pair had no additional afterbath.  

The bottom pair had no post-mordanting at all.    The top of that pair had an additional afterbath in an ammonia solution at the very end.  The lower of that pair had no additional afterbath.  

Here's the comfrey sample [Just right of the blue sample in the long pic above this one.    You see the four pairs of alum samples?    From left to right:  tin post-mordant, copper post-mordant, iron post-mordant and no post-mordant.    

This is a good illustration of how each post-mordant affects natural dyes in general.   

• Tin brightens
• Copper greens
• Iron darkens

Natural Dye Sample Project: Part 1

Several years ago, a few friends and I set out on a quest to dye ten different fibers with ten different natural dyes.

We also wanted to see what differences we could get on the fibers with different pre-mordants.

And post-mordants.

And afterbaths.  

It turned into kind of a big deal.    A big, glorious, messy, complicated, time-consuming, natural dye deal that took us about 2 1/2 years to complete.

Well.

It's done.    Ta-DA!

And we have these wonderful books full of natural dye samples to use as reference now.

This is how we organized things:  

The fibers:   linen, cotton, rayon, tencel, bamboo, silk, wool, superwash wool, alpaca and mohair.

The dyes:  logwood, cochineal, brazilwood, madder, walnuts, apple twigs, osage orange, goldenrod, comfrey and indigo.



The pre-mordants:  alum/tartaric acid, tin, nothing.
The post-mordants:  tin, copper, iron, nothing.
The afterbaths:  ammonia, nothing. 

For each fiber, for each dye we have a page that lists every combination of pre-mordant, post-mordant and afterbath,  Blow this pic up to see the details of the sample sheet.

We  also had a section for notes that tells us exactly how we did the dye, etc.  Notes are important.    Because I don't remember a blasted thing anymore.

Here's a pic of the notes we took on using walnuts.   Walnuts give gorgeous brown dyes, but it takes a couple of days to pull the color out of them.     That's the kind of thing you want to remember.

It took forever to punch all the holes in the cardstock, and then attach all the samples, but it was worth it.   [We tried drilling them, but...uh...no.].   There are 90 sample cards and 24 different combinations of mordants on each page. [A couple of cards have more than one set of samples.]   That is 2400 different dye samples all organized in binders for each of us. 

No wonder it took 2 1/2 years.

Tomorrow, I'll show you the fibers that dyed the best and talk a bit about the process. 

Sun Dyeing

ANNUAL HOT WEATHER REPOST:

It's been hot here.

Blistering heat.  High humidity.   No fun for people or critters, but perfect weather for sun dyeing.  It's easy and a fun summer activity for kids.

Sun dyeing is for fibers that need heat to set.   Protein fibers:  Silk, wool, mohair, angora, alpaca, soy silk,  nylon.

Yeah, I know that nylon isn't protein, but it dyes like protein.  




This is what you need:

• glass jar 
• 4 colors of dye:   You can use kool-aid/drink mixes, food coloring, cake coloring, or acid dye.   Remember, this is America.  You can use how many ever colors of dye that you want.  You can combine different types of dye.   You can even use kool-aid with sugar if you want, but I don't recommend it because it makes things very, very sticky.   Use the drink mix packs without sugar.
• Acid of some kind:  citric acid [not necessary if you use drink mixes - they have citric acid in them already.], vinegar, etc.
• fibers or yarns that will fit into your glass jar, divided into three piles. 

This is what you do:

• Sprinkle some dye in the bottom of the jar.  Don't be OCD about it, just sprinkle.  Be generous.
• Put a third of your fiber in the jar.  
• Sprinkle some dye over it.   
• Put another third of the fiber in the jar.   
• Way over on one side, sprinkle another color of dye.  
• On the opposite side, sprinkle another color.   
• Put the last third of your fiber in and sprinkle another color of dye on top.  
• Sprinkle with citric acid or dump some vinegar in.
• Fill the jar with hot water out of the tap.   Fill it until all of the fiber is covered. 
• Let sit in sun for a day or so.  I covered mine with loose tops to keep the bugs out and the ducks from drinking it.   Eew.
• You'll notice that the water will become clear around the yarn - that tells you that the dye has attached to the yarn out of the water.   That's good!
• Rinse well and hang to dry. 

In the pic above, I used 6 skeins of nylon ribbon in each gallon jar.    In the left jar I used forest, burnt orange, navy, leaf and yellow dyes.   In the right jar I used violet, fuchsia, turquoise and bright red dyes.   I let them cook for a day and a half before I rinsed them.

The green ones got a little dark.  I dumped quite a bunch of the forest dye in the bottom.  

That's how it goes.  You're never quite sure how things will turn out.   Remember -- that's the fun of it!

The fuchsia and purple ones turned out like this.

Every skein is different.   I love them!



Now.....what to do with them....hmmmm.

Renaissance

I love warm weather.   The dye loves warm weather.   Colors are always a bit better in the summer.

This is what came out of the dyepot last week. 

Colorway:   Renaissance.  

You can see all of my colors, up close and personal next weekend at the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds on June 1st and 2nd.  Stop in and say, 'Hi.'

Wild Color

This is the revised and updated version of the classic book on natural dyeing by Jenny Dean.   [Check out her blog - link in the sidebar]

Some friends and I did a lengthy study group on natural dyeing over the past 3 years.   This book was an invaluable resource.   Jenny Dean has dyed with everything.  Her recipes are friendly and her instructions clear.

The first section of the book is a history of the use of natural dyes.    Then she has a section on Techniques.   This section is very useful.  Read it thoroughly and keep it handly.

The vast remaining section of the book is organized by dye plant.  She includes instructions for working with 66 different plant dyestuffs.  (No cochineal, no mushrooms/lichens)

Each dyestuff has a description of the material, its cultivation and harvest and a description of the procedure used to extract the dye and put it on your fiber.   There are color swatches along the edge of each page that will give you an idea of the types of colors you can get from that plant using different mordants and dips.

 I enjoyed using this book very much - so much so that when the new edition came out, I made sure to get one.   This is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in natural dyeing.

Here's a link to get one:

Vineyard

If I can't have a vineyard in my garden, then I'll have one in my dye pot.   This is one of my favorite colors to do in the fall.   Or anytime.  It makes me happy from the moment I start mixing the dye.

Vineyard on Bamboo Silk.   225 yds.  $35.   I love this yarn.

And this is Vineyard on a new yarn.   Flag [rayon].  150 yds.  $12.



I need to make something with this yarn.  What should I make?

Natural Dye - Goldenrod

Now is the time to gather goldenrod for dyeing.   You can dry it and save it for later - it gives beautiful colors even after months.

Pick flowers that are open but not going to seed.   Hang them in bunches, upside down.  Once they're dry, put them in paper bags until you're ready to use them. 

This is a very versatile dye plant!

We got an amazing range of colors with goldenrod.  Post-mordanting with iron really changed the color from gold to deep olive greens.  

Goldenrod takes much better on protein fibers than cellulose fibers.   Look at the top [left] card in the pic, right.   That's cotton.  Not much color took at all. 


To dye with goldenrod, cut the stems and leaves off and let the flowering parts [fresh or dry] soak in warm water overnight.   The next day, boil for an hour, then strain the plant parts out and put your fiber in.  

Tip:   Use quilt batt inside a large funnel to strain the plant material out.    The polyester batts rinse clean and can be used during you next dye day. 

We're on TV tonight!

Remember when the crew from The Weekly Special came to the studio to interview me?  Well, tonight they're re-running the show.   In just a few short hours, you can see me in my studio doing what I do best - getting color all over everything.

Here's the link to the Weekly Special's episode on the fiber arts.   The program airs again tonight, Thursday, Sept 29, 2011 at 8 pm Eastern Daylight time.   PBS, Bloomington, Indiana - Channel 5 or 30 depending on your hookup.

If you missed it, the Youtube clip of my part of the program is on the right side of the blog.   You can at least watch my part of it. 

Comfrey: Part 1, Natural Dyeing

Comfrey [Symphytum officinale] is a most useful plant.    We were lucky enough to inherit a couple of wild-ish ones when we moved here.    I say wild-ish because I'm pretty darned sure that the previous owners didn't know what they were, and I know they didn't plant it, but it's not the kind of thing that shows up by itself.   Someone, sometime planted it.

Then it was neglected.  Ignored.  Abused, even.   Poor thing.

But here's the deal:  These things don't die.   They are some of the toughest plants I have ever seen.   Seriously.    When I put in the veg garden, I laid gravel walks.   I dug up one of these that had been in the middle of the path and put 4 inches of gravel on it. 

It lived.   It thrived.  It grew up through the gravel and stayed put.   It didn't die even this summer when it was 9 million degrees and the sun beat down on it for months at a time.    I'd like to be that tough. 

As you can see in the pic above, these are beautiful leafy plants.   They have a wonderful flowers and some day I'll find my photos of them and show you.   Hopefully by the time I write up Comfrey:  Part 2, Medicinal Herb.   Hopefully. 

We used comfrey leaves in our natural dye study group to see what kind of color we could get. 

The pics aren't great, but they give you an idea of what we got.   Lovely sage greens and tan!

Notice that the samples on the left are a lot lighter than the samples on the right.   You're looking at the difference between how this particular dye takes on cellulose fibers [left] and protein fibers [right].    With comfrey, it makes a big, big difference.     With other dyes, like osage orange, it isn't nearly so noticeable.

The cellulose samples were so light, the only color on there was probably from the mordants.

Next time we try it we're going to use alum acetate to treat the cellulose stuff to get better colors.   Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, the protein fibers look wonderful.   [They're greener in person than they are in the pic - a beautiful sage-y green.]

Comfrey dyes more than just fibers.  I've been reading up on using natural stuff to color hand made soap with and comfrey is the most recommended material to use for green.   Here's a tutorial at soap-making-resource.com.  

By the way, if you haven't looked at Jenny Dean's Wild Color website, go there now!   You'll find a wealth of great information and beautiful colors from all kinds of natural dyes.

In the studio: Iris

These are my favorite colors.   I love working with them.   I love wearing them.   I love them on my walls.

Lots of other folks like them, too.   This is only a third of what I've dyed in this colorway to take to the Michigan Fiber Festival.
  

What are your favorite colors?

Trixie has the Blues

K2 loves her ducks.  A lot.

So it was very upsetting to discover that Trixie had suffered a fly strike.    We think it was a combination of grooming herself for her nest and being a drake magnet.   The boys won't leave her alone.   And it's been damp.   And she's been setting.   And she hid her nest under a daylily, next to some siberian iris in the lower flower terrace.   It's cozy there, but not much air circulation.   The flies found her. 

I won't describe what K2 found.    Eew.   It took an extremely strong stomach and a lot of courage for a 12 year old to gather Trixie up and bring her to me.

Trixie had a large active area on her lower back and a smaller area under one wing.  We washed her and washed her and washed her.   Then K2 did some internet research.

Can I just say right here that I heart the internet?  

I heart the internet.    Seriously.

K2 did the preliminary investigation and then I followed up with the technical stuff.  There are wonderful posts out there about these kinds of problems.   Backyard Chickens forum is a fount of excellent information.  

After some reading, we decided to spray her with ProZap to kill the rest of the flies.  We did that for a couple of days, then we sprayed her down with Blu-Kote as an added antiseptic to help her heal.   We've kept her penned up, away from the others and out of the water so that she'll stay dry and so the boys won't bother her.    [They've been hanging out right next to her pen.]

I find it professionally ironic that both of these medications dyed her blue.   She's gorgeous!   The light blue is the ProZap, the darker is the Blu-Kote.   Yes, her beak is blue.  Both medications are safe. 

I almost wish we could keep her this color.

Seriously.

Dye Studio - Dyeing with Acid Dyes

So you're ready to play with acid dyes on protein fibers!  Good for you!   If you want all the same color on your skein, then you need to follow the dye manufacturer's instructions. See yesterday's post for a list of places to get acid dyes.  If you want to paint different colors on your skeins, then here are some instructions.

This is what you need:

Bottom of steam pan with rack

• Gloves:  thin ones to dye with AND heavy ones to handle very hot fiber with.
• Apron and dye clothes.
• Bucket big enough to hold your fiber loosely in water.
• Fibers:  protein fibers like wool, etc.
• Acid dyes:  One Shot, Jacquard, Kool-Aid, etc.
• Acid:  vinegar or citric acid
• Trash bag to cover your table.
• Squirt bottles or brushes to put the dye on with.
• Large pot with lid to boil water in.
• Rack that fits inside the pot to hold the fibers out of the water while they're steaming.
• Plenty of old towels or rags.

As I mentioned in the last post, the basic steps for hand painting with acid dyes is this:
1.  Wet out your fibers in hot water with acid in it.
2.  Mix up your dyes into dye solutions
3.  Paint your skeins with the dye
4.  Heat the skeins
5.  Cool the skeins
6.  Rinse and dry. 

But you want more details, right?   I'll take it step by step.

1.  Wet out your fibers in hot water with acid in it.

How much water?   Enough to cover your fiber well.
How hot?   This is going to be heat set - start the heat now.   Use hot water.
How much acid?   1 Tablespoon of citric acid or 2 Tablespoons vinegar per gallon is plenty.   It only has to be a little acid.

Put the acid in the hot water and then the fiber.   Let it sit for 15 minutes or so while you get everything else ready.

2.  Mix up your dyes into dye solutions.    It's a good idea to start heating your steam water now.   By the time you're done with the dyeing, the water will be boiling and ready to go.

How strong should the dye solutions be?   That depends on how dark/bright you want your colors to be.

1% dye solution gives bright/dark colors.
.5% gives nice medium shades. 
0.1% solution gives good pastels. 

Remember:  There are no RULES.   Make things as dark or light as you want!

3.  Paint your skeins with the dye.

When you're done with the top, squeeze the dye through the skein by pressing and squeezing a section at a time along the skein, then flip it over and paint the other side.

Squeeze the dye through one last time.

NOTE:   Gravity will pull the dye through the skein and it will puddle on the bottom.   You'll get darker colors wherever it puddles.    If you can't deal with that, then grab a dry towel and soak up the puddle of dye.

4.  Heat the skeins.

I use 2 large veg pans and a stove rack to steam on.

Gently lift the skein onto the steamer rack.    REMEMBER:  Dye wicks quickly and easily through protein fibers.  The more you move the skein, the more the colors will move.   Magical and beautiful things might happen.   If you don't want color movement, then move things as little as possible.

Put the rack over the steam, cover and let steam for 20-30 minutes.   If you're only doing one skein, then you can get by with 15 minutes.   If you're doing a bunch of skeins, it might take 50 minutes.    Don't skimp on the steam time.

REMEMBER:  Don't let your steamer run dry.   [No fun!  I've done it.   My steamer has the scars to prove it.]

When the steaming is done, turn off the heat.   Lift the lid by opening the side AWAY from you first.    Steam burns are very painful!

One batch cooling while the next steams

5.  Cool the skeins.

Take your fibers out of the rack and let them cool.   Let them cool until you can touch them bare handed.   It'll take longer to cool the center, so spread them out a bit for cooling.

6.  Rinse and dry.



REMEMBER:   You don't want to felt your yarn!  

Fill a bucket with very hot water.  It's fine to use any temp that is warmer than your skeins.   Lay your fibers in the bucket.   If the dye took well, there should be very little bleeding at all, if any.   Let it sit for a minute or so.  Do not agitate!  You don't want felt.

Nylon dries fast!

Dump the bucket and fiber gently into the sink.   Let the water drain off.   Press down on the yarn to get as much water as possible out of the fiber.

Spin out the excess water by putting the yarn in your washing machine and doing a SPIN CYCLE.   NOTE:   Do NOT use a full rinse cycle - that will wet your yarn, then agitate, then spin.   Use only the spin cycle.

OR, you can just roll the yarn in a towel and squeeze hard to get as much water out as you can.

Hang it to dry.


Troubleshooting:

* I followed the directions but all the dye rinsed right out!    

Your yarn wasn't protein.   The dye knows!    And believe me this has happened to all of us!    I just got a batch of yarn that we thought was nylon.    The dye rinsed right out of it.    Surprise!   I tested it with MX dyes and turns out it was a very shiny, clear, rayon.   Oops.   But not a crisis.

*  The dye takes, but a lot of it rinses out!

You need a longer steaming time.   I had a terrible time dyeing alpaca and wensleydale until I doubled the steam time.    Some fibers take their time opening up and taking the dye.   Give them plenty of steam time.

*  The yellows are rinsing out!

It's a weird fact that some fibers don't like certain dye colors.   My issue is yellows.   Yours might be some other color.   Wool generally takes everything just fine.   Alpaca and wensleydale, which is a rare breed wool, don't like my yellows.    I doubled the steam time and that helped a lot.   I still lose some yellow, but I can get it out in a single rinse. 

If you run into other problems, you're welcome to let me know!    Happy dyeing!