Varigated yarn

in , ,

I had my first go at producing variegated yarns with natural dyes. I have done it before with chemical dyes using a technique of painting straight onto the yarns, however this technique does not really work for most of the natural dyes as they take time to be absorbed by the yarn. Where there is a will there's a way and here is what I came up with for my first attempt.

I tried two different techniques, the first technique is more calculated, I will call it the dip dye method. It is achieved by sectioning off areas of the skein, dyeing and over dyeing, the second technique is entirely random.

Dip Dye Method

In this method I used three different dyestuffs, Turmeric, Indigo and Cochineal. The indigo over dyes the Turmeric turning it green and the cochineal over the indigo makes purple. There are areas of cross over so you may get a little blue coming through but I quite like that.

To simmer only part of the skeins I used a stick across the top of my boiler and bulldog clips to hold the yarn tied to the stick so that the right amount of my skein was entering the dye-bath.

The finished skeins.

The Random Method

My random yarns were achieved by twisting up the skeins, dyeing them, then twisting them in the opposite direction and over-dyeing, then a final dye with then skein untwisted. This process gives a dappled effect, and you never quite know what your going to get.



Tags: , ,

Walwa Mini- Break mission.

in , ,

The mountains across the valley still shrouded in misty fog at 4:34pm.

Recently we went on a mini-break weekend away to the bush retreat that is my folks house. I decided to pack my dye pots too!

I was also grateful that I'd remembered to pack my scarf and beanie and warm woollen things as it was a very cold weekend, most day we did not see the sun till well into the afternoon!

Braving the elements though I did manage to get some sampling done with foliage picked from the garden and something I'd read about in someone else's blog that I wanted to try, black turtle beans.

Black Turtle Beans

I had been doing some reading of other dyestuffs I might try especially in the pursuit of making blues and mauve's. I came across several bloggers who had tried black turtle beans.

 

http://knitwhatyouexpected.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/how-to-make-blue-using-black-turtle.html

https://waysofthewhorl.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/natural-dyeing-take-3-black-beans/

IMGP9983.JPG

 

I did three pots of black bean experiments, the beans were soaked overnight and the quite purplish/ blue liquid carefully drained off the top and separated into three pots.

  1. Bean liquor plus Alum- resulted in a pale mauve/ blue.
  2. Bean liquor plus Alum and vinegar- resulted in a pale mauve/ blue (with more red than the first sample)
  3. Bean liquor plus soda ash- no result.

 

Angophora

I wanted to try the leaves of the Angophora because although they may look like a Eucalyptus they are actually part of the Myrtle family, so I was keen to see what sort of colours they might supply.

  1. no mordant- result beige/ brown
  2. mordant copper- result olive green

Banksia Giant Candles

I think a darker yellow/orange could have been achieved had I simmered the candles for longer. I would also recommend draining the liquid off before adding the yarn due to the large amount of vegetable matter that came off the candles.

  1. mordant Alum- result pale lemon yellow

 

Lemon scented Gum

Similar results to the Angophora samples, smells delicious whilst simmering!

  1. no mordant- result beige/ brown
  2. mordant copper- result dark olive green

Salt bush

Salt Bush foliage.

Salt Bush foliage.

I did not use any mordants for this sample, the colour is an amazing bright mint green (brighter then the above picture) I will revisit this dyestuff at a later date to see how other mordants change the colour.


Tags: , ,