Posted by Peg in South Carolina
I was not sure that I had enough of the dulled red silk for the other half of the scarf. I could dye some more. Yes. But I am dyeing in very small batches, 6 grams or less of fiber in each dye bath. Accurate reproduction at this scale is very very difficult. Would it matter? Maybe not.
But I started thinking of alternatives. And I decided that the other half was going to be different. The background color, instead of reds, was going to be blues.
I began thinking of using the large center design as the transition from the red to the blue.
I have some blue silk already dyed from another project that will work beautifully. What I do not have and need is a dulled blue. So I have worked out a formula, basically a bright blue dulled by a bit of orange. I have skeined 6 grams of yarn (200 yards), soaked it, mixed the dye and am now dyeing.
I dislike going to all the work of dyeing such a small amount. I thought about using this to start dye testing some greens for the Textile Museum project. But that would require a lot of work right now, translate, a lot of time. And I want to get on with the current project. And we are leaving town tomorrow for a few days. So one small skein it is.
Here are photos of the same yarn taken at two different times in the dyepot. The one on the left had been in for about 10 minutes (after having soaked for 10 minutes in the additive solution alone). The one on the right has been in the dyepot for 1 hour, at which time it has reached a little over 180 degrees.
The yarn will stay in the dyepot for one more hour at the same temperature. The yarn should then be even slightly darker. Note, however, that wet yarn appears darker than dry yarn.
I dyed on the stove instead of using an electric frying pan. I still used a water bath in order to protect the yarn from scorching at the bottom. In addition, it is easier to control the heat with a water bath. And it was much easier to control the heat with this set up, using a gas range, than it is using an electric frying frying pan setup.
Related Posts:
Changing My Mind at the Warping Board
Designing the Christmas Towels Yet Again
Art Piece 4: I’ve Changed My Mind (Again)
Back to the Dyepots
“Changing My Mind Midstream” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 3, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina
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