Messing Around With Pre-Felts

[Pandagirl]

No I haven't tried kool aid or food coloring which would probably be the normal starting place. There are a lot of you tube videos about it, but I couldn't tell you if it's lightfast or not.

[Pandagirl]

Ruth, that's good to know about the kool aid. I won't be trying that anytime soon. :-)

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Kool Aid was enticing for it's simplicity as shown on You-Tube but is also surprisingly costly. OK, Ruth, I will look into the commercial dyes. Just received my ten pound box of wool from RH LINDSAY!

[Shepherdess]

Luvswool dyes are most dangerous when in their powder form. they can fly very easily. Once you have them in liquid form they are much safer and easy to use. You can make up dye solutions so you don't have to handle the powders as often. I think its 1.5 tsp in 1 litre of water and the you use 1 ml/cc for every 10 grams of fiber for a medium shade. You can use less or more depending on the depth of colour you want. You can also mix the colours into new ones. They keep for ages. You can buy liquid dye too but then you are paying to ship water. to make a safe mixing area use a large box on its side. spray the inside of the box with water. mix the powders inside the box. the box helps contains fly away powder and wetting the box grabs the dye and makes it stick. I have seen people lay out newspaper instead of using a box and spray it down. It is amazing how many little dots of colour show up. always wear your mask especially if you are sensitive.

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Ann, Thanks so much for those tips about dyeing wool fiber. Is there a particular brand that you prefer?

[Shepherdess]

The 3 main suppliers are Jacquard, Prochem and Dharma trading. they are all good. You need to make sure you get the acid dye. they also make MX or fiber reactive dye that are for plant fibers.

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Thanks again, Ann!

[zed]

I don't think any wool is even 'colourfast', look at brown sheep with their sun bleached tips
I have a felted soap on my windowsill, made from commercial wool tops, and I noticed the other day it has really faded.

Cathy, we have lots of info on the studio site about dyeing, under the Fibers drop down menu and the Tutorials one. I did a tutorial for using acid dyes in tiny amounts, I think I use a third of a 1ml measuring spoon in the tutorial pics, but there's a table for making up different amounts and roughly how much wool or silk it will dye. I use silk throwster's waste in the photos, but it's the same for wool.

feltingandfiberstudio.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/direct-dyeing1.pdf

[MTRuth]

Very true Zed but some dyes are definitely better than Kool-aid

[luvswool and dyestuff]

I am very interested in experimenting with acid dyes, and I plan to do that in the Spring when I can open doors and windows. I even have a small deck where if I spill, it's okay. Definitely plan on following your suggestions Zed and Ruth, and all of the great information on the Blog and Studio. I purchased a small amount of Wilton food color dyes, just for fun. Will let you know how that turns out!

[zed]

Your description of the smell is enough to stop me even thinking about using Kool Aid, Ruth

[MTRuth]

It's beyond disgusting in my opinion!