Cushion Covers

Nature dyed main colours. Acid dyed accents on lighter one. Darker one is all acid sued. 

Handspun wool. Some E. Friesian.

Some Lincoln Longwool. 

Wool waste for stuffing. 

Natural Dyeing BMS

July 30/14
BMS? British Milk Sheep
Fineness? a medium wool. Mitts & things similar.
Dyes? Marigold. Tansy. Yellow Bedstraw.
Mordants? Iron. Copper. Alum.
Photographed with my Iphone in the early morning light. Unfortunately the colours were not picked up very well, but you get the general idea. The tansy on alum (upper right) is my favourite. Pretty yellow.

Bottom to top: Marigold. Bedstraw. Tansy. Left to Right: Iron. Copper. Alum.

Greener Shades Colour Wheels

I have been doing some acid dyeing just for my own basic reference tool.
 
Greener Shades acid dyes have 2 blues - River & Coral Reef Aqua, 2 reds - Flame & Ruby, 1 yellow and black. Secondary colours - Sunset Orange, Amethyst Purple and Amazon Green are available too.
I created 4 colour wheels using the percentage system with slightly off white carpet wool. 2 Sets of the skeins were 20 yds. and weighed 10 grams each. These were dyed using .5% DOS (depth of shade) with Ruby Red & River Blue and .2% DOS which used Flame Red and River Blue.

The depth of the colour at such a low saturation point was surprising. The colours were very deep.

.2% DOS

.5% DOS

On another I used 10 yd. 5 gram skeins of the same type of wool, but the dye amounts were too small for accurate calculations with the syringes I had available. In these cases I used a small amount of water and only an eyedropper to measure by the drop. On these I added 10% black to each.

10% black added. Eyedropper measurement.

One more colour wheel, eyedropper method of measurement using 10% of the complementary colour.

10% of the complement added. Eyedropper method.

Then I took all of the colours I had from Greener Shades and did the same 5 variations with DOS on all using 10 gram 20 yd. skeins.

.2% .5% 1% 2% 3% DOS

Overall good reference tools. Now I must take a sample from each and make a traditional wheel of sorts to make comparison easier.

More on Mystery Fibre Dye

Mystery Fibre

The dye results really do not look quite like this - it really is not pink like this. I think the photo explains it all - the 5 different DOS (depth of shade) and how I managed it.

Walnut. Afr. fine wool, BFL nylon

I have had pails of walnuts sitting around all winter & half the summer. I did not husk them; just let them sit. I poured a small pail off through a sieve and just added some roving to a pot. The one on the left is African fine wool, the middle is Blue Faced Leicester, previously woad dyed, and now overdyed w. walnut. The last is some nylon roving.
No mordant needed.

Bedstraw Dye Results

The mordanted fibres were placed in open mesh bags and simmered at 180Ffor 1.5 hrs. I did the silk separately in order to use a lower dye temperature. I harvested some of the bedstraw I have growing even though it's very early in the season.

The fibre was 150 grams of combed Suffolk and 10 grams of bleached Tussah silk top. 

All of the fibre was mordanted in alum & cream of tartar 8 &8% and 7% respectively. 

The baths were made last weekend-one dye from the flowers and stems and the other from the roots. 

After dyeing I allowed the fibre to cool, then washed and rinsed. The water was squeezed out and they were place on a towel to dry. 

I am thinking about combining with another dyed fibre - something to add more softness. The one on the left is a little rosier; the one on the right is a light tan brown. The silk is like champagne.

Suffolk & Silk. Bedstraw dye.

I have a mystery roving. The fibres are unknown. The burn test revealed a soft powdery black ash. Some melted, some ignited. The smell was of burnt paper. Something to consider.

Gansey Socks

Just finished last night.

Will add to Xmas gift stash for a lucky lady with cold feet.  I just happen to know two young ladies that fit that description.

Gansey Socks

Also working on a new sweater project which will take me from unspun fleece to a finished sweater. 

This is a blend of Merino X Romney (which is incredibly soft), little New Zealand Merino, Alpaca top and Tussah silk top. 

As this time I am unsure about the colour - I may dye the skeins or maybe the carded batts will take a detour to the dye pot. Lots of time to decide. Right now I am at the sampling stage and carding.

Sample skein of Merino X Romney, Merino, Alpaca & Silk

The sample skein has been washed and I am waiting for it to dry to do the sample swatch. There are a few calculations to go through first. In another post I will go into more detail.

 

Fleece to Sweater Swatch