Post by Pandagirl on Jan 26, 2014 0:04:21 GMT
I've spent the past few days preparing the carrier rods, degummed cocoons, nepps, thick and thin yarn and some sari eyelash yarn I bought to dye. My hardest decision is usually what colors. Since I didn't have a project in mind, I decided to use my favorites -- teal, purple, moss green, black and aztec gold.
I soaked the rods and separated them before soaking everything in a vinegar rinse overnight. Zed, I took your suggestion and roughed up the nepps with a couple of dog brushes in the hope they will take the dye and felt better.I used acid dyes I had mixed last year -- 1 teaspoon powder to 1 cup water. Since I wanted bright colors, I used the dye without diluting. The only exception was one batch of heather purple I used Jacquard green silk dye I had mixed purple, blue and black last year for another project.
I placed the items on saran wrap, colored them, wrapped them up and put them in the steamer for 30 minutes and let them sit overnight to cool. I had purchased the thick and thin yarn at a yard sale this summer. It was marked "wool" but it obviously wasn't. I had noticed a sheen when I took it out of the bag, but figured it had some nylon or something in it. You'll notice most of it is as white as when I put it in the wrap. Only the green label dye left a little color. Also, at the last minute I decided to do a red batch, but didn't have room in the pot so I let it sit overnight. I decided to rinse it out since it wasn't going to dye anyways. But some color did stay. I'll have to redo it with procion mx at a later time.
When I rinsed them out some of the darker colors and gold had to get a synthropol bath and a few more rinses. I'll have to make sure I use them on dark backgrounds since there will probably still be run off. The aztec was Idye. Too bad I didn't use the yarn in that. :-)
Besides the yarn I was disappointed in the sari eyelash. No where in the description of the product did it say it had a binding other than silk. Another MX project if I want to use it.
Now I have to think of how to use those weird looking cocoons. Any suggestions?
I did some snow dyeing yesterday and more nepps and silk today. They are cooling off so I'll have more tomorrow.
I soaked the rods and separated them before soaking everything in a vinegar rinse overnight. Zed, I took your suggestion and roughed up the nepps with a couple of dog brushes in the hope they will take the dye and felt better.I used acid dyes I had mixed last year -- 1 teaspoon powder to 1 cup water. Since I wanted bright colors, I used the dye without diluting. The only exception was one batch of heather purple I used Jacquard green silk dye I had mixed purple, blue and black last year for another project.
I placed the items on saran wrap, colored them, wrapped them up and put them in the steamer for 30 minutes and let them sit overnight to cool. I had purchased the thick and thin yarn at a yard sale this summer. It was marked "wool" but it obviously wasn't. I had noticed a sheen when I took it out of the bag, but figured it had some nylon or something in it. You'll notice most of it is as white as when I put it in the wrap. Only the green label dye left a little color. Also, at the last minute I decided to do a red batch, but didn't have room in the pot so I let it sit overnight. I decided to rinse it out since it wasn't going to dye anyways. But some color did stay. I'll have to redo it with procion mx at a later time.
When I rinsed them out some of the darker colors and gold had to get a synthropol bath and a few more rinses. I'll have to make sure I use them on dark backgrounds since there will probably still be run off. The aztec was Idye. Too bad I didn't use the yarn in that. :-)
Besides the yarn I was disappointed in the sari eyelash. No where in the description of the product did it say it had a binding other than silk. Another MX project if I want to use it.
Now I have to think of how to use those weird looking cocoons. Any suggestions?
I did some snow dyeing yesterday and more nepps and silk today. They are cooling off so I'll have more tomorrow.