Dan just got back from a 12-day trip to Japan. As per usual when he travels without me, I spent the first week or so in blissful solitude, and took the opportunity to dig into some of my projects and dabblings. Then, I spent the last five days pining something fierce.
The first thing I got down to after taking him to the airport was trying out some immersion dyeing in the roaster oven I got from him as a Christmas present. I just wanted to give the process a whirl, get a feel for it, and try a bit of color mixing without any particular goals for the outcome. I used Jacquard Acid dyes, which my local craft store stocks, so I was able to easily get additional colors as needed.
The roaster oven has a "buffet" insert, with three pans intended to keep dishes hot for serving. They're perfect for running three small batches of dye at a time. My first round was a set of fairly primary colors on some natural white Wensleydale top that I got as a sample with my drum carder. I broke it into three equal pieces (not worrying about how much it weighed) and put one in each buffet tray. I had already soaked the wool overnight, and mixed up some stock solutions (1 tsp. of dye powder to 2 cups water; not overly precise, mind you).
From left to right, the dye colors used are Periwinkle, Golden Yellow and Vermillion.
After this test run, my plans were to dye a range of colors over some medium grey Corriedale roving I had. Here's the undyed fiber:
For this set, I did pay a bit of attention to the weight. I broke the roving into 2 oz. pieces, which I thought would be a reasonable size for samples - spun up, there will be enough to use in a small colorwork project. I put each piece into a tray, and poured in vinegar water (about 2 tsp./half gallon) to cover the fiber.
For each piece, I aimed for about 1/2 cup of dye stock solution in total, which I mixed with 1-1/2 cups water so I had a bit more volume of dye to pour over the rovings.
My first batch of three was the secondary colors, left-right:
- 1/3 cup Golden Yellow, then Periwinkle to make 1/2 cup,
- 1/2 cup Golden Yellow, then a tablespoon or so of Vermillion
- 1/4 cup Vermillion and 1/4 cup Periwinkle
For the next two batches, I picked up some Scarlet and Turquoise dye, so that I had closer to true primaries. And at this point, my record keeping kind of fell apart. I am not destined to be a production dyer. Here's my best recollection:
- Scarlet and Turquoise
- Vermillion and a little bit of Turquoise
- Golden Yellow and Scarlet
- Golden Yellow and Turquoise
- Straight Turquoise
And here's the full spectrum, with the undyed fiber in the middle.
Keen observers will note that my second set had five, not six colors. I used some natural light grey Corriedale to round out the group. This was a smaller length, so I threw in a small piece of tussah silk with it. It was neat to see how differently the fibers took up the dye. The silk is much bluer.
