IMMERSION DYEING is the most common form of dyeing.  You make a bath in a pot or vat with lots of water and the dissolved dye, then add the prepared fiber.  Heat and stir until the dye is fixed to the fiber.  Then the fiber is removed from the bath, rinsed and dried.  In this process the dyeing and fixing are all one process.

It is possible to spread the dissolved dye on the surface of the fiber, then go though a process to fix it to the fiber.  This is called DIRECT APPLICATION and the dye can be applied to the prepared fiber by painting, silk screening, stamping, etc.  Dyes are usually fixed by steaming  but some can be fixed at a lower temperature for a longer time. After fixing the fibers are rinsed and dried.

The Dip Dye a Skein workshop (7 June) will do immersion dyeing and the Paint a Skein workshop (14 June) will be direct application.

Posted by Karren at 08:16 PM | Permalink

Every one has a different term for this kind of dyeing.  Each term describes a different aspect of the process or results, so they all are correct in their own way.  I call it dip dyeing which describes the process, others call it ombre (French for shaded), gradation dyeing  which is how it looks..  It can be monochromatic or not.

I am a visual person so here are some pics of one skein I dip dyed then wove.

I started with a about 8oz. skein of Henry’s Attic PFD coconut silk.  This yarn, 60%silk, 40% wool is fine and light weight yet the texture allows an open sett and the cloth to still be stable.  Unfortunately this yarn has been discontinued and replaced with a smooth yarn.  Anyhow here is the skein.

 

I must apologized for the shadows in the photo, I took the pics outdoors to get true colors and it was overcast.  Just as I took the first picture we had what the English call a sunny interval.
I dyed the whole skein a sand color then I dipped a small part of the skein in a black dye pot.  I did not get black, it is difficult to get a true black, but I got shades of grey from charcoal to light.  On important point here is that I layer the black on top of the beige color, dyes are transparent and you can see both the sand and the black colors.  Here is what is left of the skein after I dyed it and used it for a weaving project. 



 Note that there are no sharp lines where a color change occurs, rather the grey starts pale and then becomes more intense the fades back to sand color gradually.  No abrupt color changes but gentle shading from one color to the next.
I wove this on a rigid heddle loom, sett 10 epi, plain weave, and used just this yarn for the warp and weft.





I love this cloth!  Random streaks of grey that cross each other. The hand of the cloth is nice too (you’ll have to take my word until you can touch it your self), stable but not too dense or heavy. The cloth looks handwoven because it is hand-dyed. It has the look of khadi ( the cloth that played a part in Gandhi’s rebellion, handspun, handwoven and hand-dyed) even if the scale is different.
The special yarn could be used in just the warp in which case the grey streaks would just be length- or warp-wise.  Or just used in the weft and the streaks would be cross- or weft-wise.

When you see a larger expanse of cloth you can see that the rhythm of the streaks of the grey is different in the warp and the weft. 


This is because they are taken from the same skein and each warp is much longer than the length of each weft shot or pick.
Then I finished the edges, hemmed with an embroidery floss to make a tiny towel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 What is a tiny towel? It is an answer to the question, “what are you making?”  In my mind I’m just trying to make beautiful, sensuous cloth.  Of course the edges have to be finished too. 

Now about the possibilities of this technique and your skein: 

 •    You can bring a skein of 8 oz. or less.  Must be an animal fiber to dye with the acid dyes we will use.   This will allow everyone a chance to dye their skein during the workshop.  Half a pound of yarn is enough for a small project.

•    The yarn can be white, natural or a pale color.  It is hard to over-dye black and see the results.  Remember that dyes are transparent and you will see the first color through the second.  If you start with yellow or a pale neutral color you can get just about any color except white by overdyeing.  If you start with an bright purple  the colors you can achieve by overdyeing are limited.
•    Your yarn should be in a loose skein with many figure eight ties to keep it from tangling during dyeing. It should be scoured and ready to dye.  If you can bring it damp, from scouring or just soaking overnight, it will be ready for the dye pot.  If it is dry it can take ½-1 hr. to soak in water to get ready to dye.
•    I will have the resources to dye your  yarn  one color and then over-dye a part of it.  In the example above the whole skein was dyed sand then dip dyed  in black.  Or you can just dip dye the skein to get white and one color (example in white and red) or just one color on top of your pale colored yarn. 

 

There are many possibilities with this dyeing.  You could have the dip-dyed yarn in only bands or stripes.  If the yarn was divided into two skeins both could be dyed the base color and only one skein dip dyed and you would have coordinating skeins.  I’ve made a short warp with a well secured cross and many figure eight ties that I will dye.  The result will be less random and lead to a graduated color in the whole piece.  We’ll see.  What fun possibilities!

TO CLASS PARTICIPANTS:Before you come I ask you to email me  your ideas on what color scheme you would like to dye.  Something like shades of blue, white with sunflower yellow or wheat with moss green.  This will give me time to mix the colors and have some color you might like when you arrive.  I expect you will want to try some thing different as you see others results.  It is just nice to have a starting point that reflects more than my taste.

 

 

Posted by Karren at 05:05 PM | Permalink

Our 7 June Sundye will use acid dyes.  Acid dyes will only color animal fibers and nylon because of their similar chemistries.  Wool is an animal fiber but what else is?  Here are some description from the Year of the Natural Fiber and links for those who like to know more:

 

 Alpaca wool - Alpaca is used to make high-end luxury fabrics, with world production estimated at around 5 000 tonnes a year

 

 

 

 

 

Angora wool - The silky white wool of the Angora rabbit is very fine and soft, and used in high quality knitwear

 

 

 

Camel hair - The best fibre is found on the Bactrian camels of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, and baby camel hair is the finest and softest 

 

 

Cashmere - Cashmere is exceptionally soft to the touch owing tothe structure of its fibres and has great insulation properties without being bulky

 

Mohair - White, very fine and silky, mohair is noted for its softness, brightness and receptiveness to rich dyes

 

 

 

Silk - Developed in ancient China, where its use was reserved for royalty, silk remains the "queen of fabrics"

 

Wool - Limited supply and exceptional characteristics have made wool the world's premier textile fibre

 

 

 You can bring any of these fibers to dye with acid dyes or nylon.  Other fibers will not dye with these dyes.

 

The following week in Paint a Skein will will work with different dyes that color cotton and other cellulose fibers.  

Posted by Karren at 10:18 PM | Permalink

Scouring fibers is the process of removing waxes, oils, dirt, finishes and anything else that can interfere with dye uptake.  Scouring is the most important step to good dyeing.  If there are blotches of oils or perspiration in the fibers the dye will be a different color in those areas.  At the end of the scouring process the fiber should be free of interfering chemicals and nearly white.  Fibers in this condition are called Prepared For Dyeing or PFD.

Think of scouring as a vigorous washing that removes all contaminates and leaves behind no residue.  You can do it yourself or you can have some one else do it.

I could write a lot about scouring and still not cover your situation, so I’m going to try to keep it simple for beginning dyers.

1.    You can just wash your yarn and hope it works.  This works 80%  of the time with purchased white or natural yarn.
2.    You can buy yarn that is PFD.
3.    You can do a true scour, this is best when you know or suspect the yarn is dirty.

1.JUST WASH YOUR YARN
After you have made your yarn into a skein and secured it with many loose figure eight ties you can wash it.  The choice of detergent is important here; home laundry detergents can have bluing, optical whiteners and  perfume that they leave behind to interfere with the dyeing. We have specialized detergents for this: Synthrapol and Orvus Paste (you can get a small amount of these from me). Otherwise choose the simplest detergent you can get your hands on; no perfumes, should be colorless to pale yellow- baby shampoo for example.  Wash in hot water with a bit of detergent.  If you see dirt come out into the wash water, wash again.  Rinse 3-5 times to make sure all the detergent is gone. Wring.  No need to dry before dyeing, this first step of dyeing is to wet out the fiber.


2. BUY PFD YARN.
You can buy fibers that are commercially scoured or scoured and bleached that are labeled PFD.  These should be fine if they have not been soiled waiting for dyeing. Buying PFD is a time and hassle saver.

You can buy yarn that is ready to dye from your local hand-spinner.  She usually has cleaned the wool before spinning and she can tell you exactly what she did and how much lanolin is left in the wool.  Tell her you want to dye it  and does she think it needs to be washed again?

I know of two manufactures that make a wide range of PFD yarns that are available in many retail stores: Henry’s Attic ( most of their yarns are PFD) and Brown Sheep Company (avoid the Superwash wool and colored yarns). Visit their websites to find a retailer near you.  There are other sources too, but maybe have a more limited range.  White spun silk yarns are usually PFD as are white or natural perle cottons. The rayons and other regenerated cellulose fibers such as Tencel, bamboo, soy silk etc. are pretty clean  because of the manufacturing process.  I also have some extra PDF yarns I know dye well that you can buy, including Henry’s Attic Coconut Silk (a textured silk/wool yarn), call if you want to see what I have.


3.  A TRUE SCOUR
The scouring process differs by what you are trying to remove.  Cotton comes with naturally occurring waxes and pectins that are difficult to remove. Wool comes with vegetable matter, burrs and such that get caught in the fleece, and lanolin produced by the animal. Reeled silk has both the silk fiber, fibroin, and the gum, sericin.  The sericin has been removed in spun yarn and all supple silk yarns. Tussah silk and linen are challenging to prepare for dyeing.

Commercial yarns may be bleached, or have bluing or optical whiteners added, all  to make them appear whiter.  Any chemicals or residue left in the yarn can interfere with dyeing. Finishes, wash-and-wear, wrinkle resistant, mercerized, singed, flame retardant, water repellent, water proof, antistatic finish, peach finish and stain resistant, can be a problem. Some  of these, the wash-n-wear, wrinkle and stain resistant ones,  are a plastic or resin type coating on the fibers and are quite effective at blocking the dye from penetrating the fibers.  I find it best to avoid  these finishes.  Other process, mercerizing, singeing, degumming, pre-shrinking , do not leave chemicals behind to block the dye penetration but they do effect the color.  Mercerized cotton  will dye a much more brilliant, lustrous color than the same cotton unmercerized.  Degummed silk will dye lighter than the same silk with the gum; the gum is a protein too and also dyes with the protein silk fiber.


Hand-spinners deal with cleaning fibers and getting it ready for spinning and are a great source of information. The more you know about what you are trying to remove the easier it will be.  

Here is a general scour process:
•    Soak the yarn in water to cover for 30 min. or more.
•    Use a dyepot for the actual scour.
•    Add 1 or 2 gallons of water, enough to cover the yarn and allow it to move freely in the bath.
•    Add 1 Tbsp. soda ash and ½ tsp. Synthrapol for each gallon of water.
•    Add yarn and heat to boiling. Move the yarn gently in the bath so that all parts of the yarn are exposed to the hot bath.
•    Simmer 10 min. for wool and 30 min. for cotton.
•    Remove cotton from the hot bath. To avoid felting wool, allow it to cool to warm and remove to a rinse that is the same warm temperature.
•    Rinse the yarn 3-5 times.  Cotton can be wrung and is ready for use.  Wool needs a 20 min. soak in a vinegar bath (1Tbsp. white vinegar per gallon) then wrung.

No need to dry before dyeing, this first step of dyeing is to wet out the fiber.
If you have questions feel free to contact me directly.

Posted by Karren at 11:44 PM | Permalink

Yarn is dyed in my studio in skein form.  This loose open form can go into the dyepot and all parts can get dyed. Few purchased yarns are in this skein form, so how do you rewind the yarn into a skein?

Spinners do this often and have tools to help.  The tools are niddy noddys and skein winders but you don't need a tool to do it a few times. You can use tools you might have for warping, a board or pegs,  a helper or a chair back.

Here is some  help:

• How to Wind Yarn Into a Skein
  

• Finishing Yarn and Wrapping a Skein - Tutorial    A You Tube video using a chair and making the figure  8 ties.
  

• Making A Skein of Yarn With A Niddy Noddy  This has a video that is helpful if you have never seen it done

When I have finished winding the skein I tie the two ends together in a bow.  The bigger the bow the easier it is to find the end of the yarn when you go to use it.  

To control the yarns strands in the skein and keep them from tangling  figure 8 ties are inserted. Make sure these ties are very loose and there are 6 or more.  When you move the skiens in water or the dyebath  they can tangle if not well controlled with the figure 8 ties.

If you have yarn in pull out skeins or balls it can be helpful to put it in a bowl or large jar on the floor  to free your hands for winding.

Posted by Karren at 07:06 AM | Permalink

Dye small projects in a fully equipped studio, Sundays, 1-6 PM at the Entwinements Studio,Yellow Springs OH
$15 in advance, $25 at the door.    Limit 10 participants 

Registration is on a first come biases, you are not registered until I have your money. You can call or email,  karren at entwinemnets.com,  your registration.

Dyeing is messy, wear appropriate clothes and bring gloves.

 

7 June 2009

Dip dye a skein

Bring a skein of scoured*, damp yarn and we will dye it one color  and then dip dye it to add another color to part of the skein.  The first color will be lighter than the second.  We will use acid dyes.  You bring one skein 8 oz. or less of wool, silk, nylon or other protein fiber, white or natural.  You will have a lovely skein to knit or weave that will have  a color variation to give character to the end project.

14 June 2009

Paint a skein

Bring a skein of scoured*, damp yarn and paint it  with vibrant colors of your choice. Take home a damp painted skein, batch it overnight and wash it the next day.  We will work with fiber reactive dyes.  You bring one skein 8 oz. or less,  of cotton, rayon or other cellulose  fiber. White is easiest but other pale colors can work. Give some thought to the color combination you would like to create, bring a picture or  something to guide you.



21 June 2009

Indigo Vat

I will prepare indigo vats and you can bring cotton yarn, in a skein, or cloth to dip in it.  It takes various dips to build up a darker color of indigo blue so bring your patience.   You can try some shibori, but you will have to be last to dip because the shibori pieces introduce a lot of air into the vat.  I will set the vat up for cellulose so bring cotton, linen, ramie, rayon, anything made of cellulose fibers.  All fibers should be scoured* and ready for dyeing.  The yarn can be damp (dry yarn will take at least ½ hr. to wett out before dyeing).  Scoured cloth can be damp or dry.  I can instruct you in simple shibori resists and have most of the tools to make the resists here. dry cloth works best for shibori.  If you want to make sewn or hand stitched resists bring hand sewing tools and very strong thread such as carpet, upholstery or sail thread.  You are limited to 8 oz. of fiber.

Posted by Karren at 02:53 PM | Permalink