Colour Palette of the Month - March!

I was given this image by Wendy Freebourne, a talented knitware designer from Bath.

The colours are so warm and rich that I couldn't resist using them for this months colour palette.

So what dye extracts would you use for this palette?

I'd give the following extracts a try, from the top:
Black - indigo and an iron modifier.
Khaki green - kamala and a light dip in indigo.
Rust - sappenwood.
Beige - cutch.
Buff - himalayan rhubarb with a copper modifier.

Colour Palette of the Month - November!

Colour Inspirations from Urban Landscapes


At the beginning of October I had a lovely week-end in London.  On the Saturday I wanted to go to the Tate Modern to see the Gaugan Exhibition and decided to walk along part of the Embankment to the Millenium Bridge.
Along the way I came across quite a few juxtapositions of old buildings and new buildings as you can see on the left.  This particular one really caught my eye with the "all glass" building that takes on an indigo colour in the background and the beautiful old building, with it's sand coloured brick and detailing stone work.
How lovely this colour palette would be in natural dyes and weave!  From the top I'd use indigo with an iron modification; indigo on it's own, but dipped several times to build up the deep blue; a very light, quick dip in indigo with a very quick and light modification with iron to get the blue grey; Oak Gall modified with citric acid; cutch.
Mm..... This has really got me thinking!  What about you, what would you use?

More Indigo!

Here are the images of the centre-pull ball dyeing I did in the same indigo vat.


I already had some centre-pull balls wound tightly and only had to "wet them out". I then put a rod (long paint brush) through the centre and allowed the ball to just sit in the vat.

After about 5 minutes I flipped the ball over and let the other side sit in the vat, as you can see in the image on the left.



Here you can see the distinct areas of colour.



Below is the hank hanging on the line after washing and rinsing.

Indigo

Just before I want to Woolfest I tutored a dye workshop. During the course of the week-end we did some indigo dyeing. I love wool, so naturally I had lots of hanks of yarn, including some lovely Blue-faced leicester gimp.

I had some in hanks and some in centre-pull ball, so in a quiet moment I managed to "dunk" them in the indigo vat.

The first ones to go in where the hanks, which I tightly hanked, giving them a really good twist, until I couldn't twist any more. I then gave them a good wetting out, followed by a good squeeze and placed them one at a time in my vat. I pushed them carefully under the surface then allowed the hank to bob back to the surface.






The image on the left shows, clearly, the coppery coloured film of a vat that is in good order.



Carefully removing the hank, catching any drips in a jug, I allowed the hank to oxydise briefly, before unwinding and hanging on the line to fully oxydise. The image on the right shows the hank as I unwound it before hanging on the line.




Here is the hank hanging on the line to dry after washing and rinsing, with a final rinse with a small amount of vinegar in the water.

Sunday Dyeing!

I've just had a lovely day dyeing with a friend. We had pre-mordanted 2 kilo's of Blue Faced Leicester Chunky yarn the previous week and spend the whole of Sunday dyeing it!

I set to work starting an indigo hydrosulphine vat ready to dip some pre-dyed hanks.

My friend, Lorraine, got the dyeing started by half filling a stainless steel meat tin with one of my Pure Tinctoria dyes and put in 5 100g pre-mordanted and wetted "centre-pull" balls. This gives a nice effect because it only dyes the part of the ball in the dye and that is shaded as the dye penetrates towards the centre of the ball. She simmered the balls in the dye for 40 to 45 minutes, then washed and rinsed them.

Lorraine dyed 2 kilo's of Blue Face Leicester Chunky yarn in this way. As each batch was wash, rinsed and re-hanked, I folded them in half and dipped the ends in the indigo vat.


Here are the Red Lac and indigo dipped hanks hanging from my Sumach tree.
This batch of yarn is dyed with Myrobalan and then dipped in the indigo vat.

A bit of a dark picture, but this is 1 kilo of Purple Lac which had its hank ends dipped in the indio vat!

We had a great day and managed to dye 2 Kilo's of yarn, dip 3 kilo's of yarn and mordant 400g of yarn, have lunch and a good natter!

Ammonia Vat II

Well, it seems to be fermenting nicely, now! It's starting to smell very ripe and the colour of the liquor is beginning to change colour, towards a green. I have waited so long for this to happen, that I am beginning to get rather impatient. But I must not wreck the slow process by diving in with some yarn I want dyed blue! I must, I must be patient.

Ammonia Vat update!

Well! What can I say!!

I have only just posted the last post, if you see what I mean. It's been a draft for several weeks! I made the vat as described, but it wouldn't ferment! (Lots of exclamation marks, going on you will see, that's how frustrated I've been!!!)

I tried stirring it every day, to move the sediment from the bottom. I have "fed" it more sugar, more yeast. Not to mention that it is sitting on a heat pad to keep the temperature constant, as it had been rather cold here in Derbyshire in the UK.

Jim Liles book, The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing - Traditional Recipes for Modern Use, suggested that if it hadn't become active in 2 - 3 days it may never do so! Well, I didn't want to abandon all the effort, not to mention, indigo and ammonia, I had put into it. So, I have given it another chance, adding more sugar every day and more yeast over the last two days and Hay Presto! it's started to ferment. I suspect it was because the temperature has risen, here, over the last few days, to be rather unseasonly warm at night. This despite the heat pad, has maintained the temperature a little more consistently.

Let hope this continues, as I have usually used a yeast and washing soda vat, and only used this one because some one said they liked it better! It has been a very good learning curve, though!

Indigo Fermentation Vat

I have been busy organising my work room over the last week, so haven't had much time to do any real "work" such as weaving, spinning or dyeing. But I need to make an indigo fermentation vat so that I can dye some yarn next week. I have to start now, as it takes about 48 hours to work, so that it will be ready for Monday.

It's the ammonia/yeast vat that I am going to make and this is how I am going to do it:

• add 5 tablespoon of powdered Yeast and 5 rounded tablespoons of Sugar to 5 cups (200ml) warm water and leave for 2 hours.
• at the same time dissolve 5 level teaspoons of Indigo to 2 and 1/2 cups (500mls) Ammonia.
• After the 2 hours add the indigo and ammonia to the yeast-sugar mix in a large container and fill to about the 2 1/2 gallon mark. Cover with plastic wrap and use a rubber band to seal. (The fermentation can burst a rigid seal.)
• Leave to sit for several days in a warm place.