Kook Aid Dying Wool

[Deleted]

Hello Everyone,

I really had a fun day yesterday with 2 of my students Christy and sister Kathy.  Christy owns the sheep farm. We had talked about having a wool dying day for many months.  I had never done any dying at all until last week at the festival ( which was acid dying)...

 When I got to the farm I discovered we were going to be dying "Cormo Wool" with Kool-Aid.   The process was fairly simple and the colors turned out very lovely... Kool-Aid and White Vinagar and hot water. They are going to use the dyed wool for needle and wet felting. 

I know we have many very experienced felters and dying people hear. What do you think of this method? Will the white Vinegar set the Kool Aid in the wool so it does not run during wet felting?? 

Because I had never washed fleece before I was surprised that it did not felt some during the dying process.  Below is a photo of the lovely dyed wool. I thought the colors turn out great.  The other photo is of some of Christy's Sheep. Romney, Shetland,Cormo and I think there was one more she had. So what do you all think?



 

[MTRuth]

Don't want to rain on your parade but I have not had any luck with Kool Aid Dyeing. It has always run and run and run when used for wet felting.

I also hate the smell of it the Kool Aid when I'm using it.

It will work fine for needle felting.

[Deleted]

Hello Ruth, thanks for your nice reply. Much appreciated. I was a bit worried about if the colors would run in wet felting. I think my two friends plan to use them in Needle felted projects so they should be OK..... I have not really gotten into dying so I think I will stick to buying wools already dyed for me. Smile.

[MTRuth]

I don't want to discourage you from dyeing, I just don't recommend Kool Aid. Acid dyes are much better.

[Shepherdess]

Kool Aid works and I have had some good and some bad with it. It is not as colour wash or light fast as the other dyes.

[koffipot]

I've not used Kool Aid, I don't think it's available in UK. I've had lots of success with acid dyes though and have achieved some nice effects and had great fun.

[zed]

Tesco's Jamaican/West Indian/Carribean section have it

[Shepherdess]

Do you have any "kids" drink crystals? Kool aid (we used to get Freshie too)come in a little packet you add the maybe 1/4- 1/2 teaspoon of powder in the packet, your own sugar and water to make it. Do you remember Tang that went to the moon? its the same stuff, only it had the sugar in the packet too.

[Deleted]

I have never seen Freshie but I do remember Tang. I do not think I have seen Tang in the grocery stores anymore, but after saying that I do not look for it either. Smile.

[luvswool and dyestuff]

I’ve used Wilton icing gels rather than the Kool Aid for dyeing, but results are uneven and they do run in the wet felting process, even after rinsing well. As a result, I tried acid dyes and was very satisfied with the results.

[Deleted]

So the results are forget Kool-Aid dying and use acid dyes/etc for wet felting. Thanks again for your comments.

[Shana]

I used Kool-Aid fairly successfully in the beginning of my felting adventure. If you're dyeing wool for something that's going to be washed regularly, then it's true the color may fade, but for sculptural and decorative functions it does a decent job.

Use the packets without sugar and the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) has enough tooth so that additional vinegar isn't necessary. I microwaved my batches without incident.

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Wilton Icing gels are another alternative to Kool-Aid, which I tried early on in my dyeing adventures! As Shana says above, if using for sculptural effects--no problem; however, you will see some dye running if wet-felting or re-washing.