Test Dye

I finally took the plunge and did some test dyeing on Saturday with natural dyes.  For this experiment I decided to do both bits of fiber (wool and alpaca) and different protein yarns. The fiber was put into a mesh laundry bag:

And I added ties to the small mini skeins I was dyeing ( note that the blue note has a different order of skeins than in the photo):

My dyeing station was out on my deck to reduce exposure to the chemicals. I mordanted the fiber and yarn overnight in a pot, then set up the dye station – a small side table topped by a Cusimax cast-iron electric hot plate topped by a large pot I got at Salvation Army. Other materials used included the mordant,  Botanical Colors liquid dyes,  a wooden spoon and measuring spoons:

I decided to try for an Aqua color which uses both the Saxon Blue dye and the Myroloban extract. It wasn’t clear what percentages of each I should use, so I did equal amounts.

The pot started looking like this:

and ended by looking like this:

There was still a fair amount of dye leftover – and I think it was mostly the Myroloban, so I’ll have to take a look to see if the proportion should be changed in the future.

After rinsing, I dried the yarn and fiber on the balcony:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The results – definitely variation among the fibers dyed:

and the yarns as well:

This is some nitpicks Wool of the Andes – and it turned out with a blended look: