split dye...lol...or not

[lomahfelt]

And so my dying adventure continues... I have moved on from brown...because I have more than enough variegated brownish wool!!!... I tried Zed's tutorial on the weekend with no particular expectations...and ended up with some lovely aqua/green/turquoise wool. I splotched the dye along the roving before wrapping in cling wrap. So today I set out with a plan.... inky blue, dark teal and dark grey variegated along the roving... and what did I get???...very evenly dyed dark sage green...they all spread and mixed completely!!!...hahaha...dying is and adventure...oh and the one colour I mixed today that I really wasn't sure how to achieve was a runny honey colour blending into creamed honey colour.... and it came out perfect!!! 

[MTRuth]

Funny, how you can always get something unexpected when dyeing. Do you have any photos of your dyeing adventures? I would love to see your colors.

[lomahfelt]

the sun is shining and I can get a photo Ruth!!!... these are my dying experiments from the past week...the skinny teal snake on the end of the table is still drying

[lomahfelt]

I'm not much of a photographer...not sure how to capture all the colour range... the purple blues are not showing here

[MTRuth]

Very nice range of colors. Yes, it is difficult to show the real colors of dyed wool, isn't it? What do you create from all this wonderful goodness?

[lomahfelt]

The browns will go into a jacket...going to try something new so really hope it goes well...I'm thinking a long (mid thigh-knee) vest or jacket with a large hood...have some printed silk I want to arrange on the back. Was inspired by vests made by Eva Camacho. The variegated turquoise I have no idea at this point...maybe something summery, and the other colours will probably go into wraps/vests. Planning to use some of that now dry teal on the border of a vest today. I have been playing around with vests/wraps and jackets for the past couple of months... some are to go in a local shop and unexpectedly I have a couple in an exhibition at the moment. I also have another project on the to-do list that is quite exciting but also daunting.... I have some local wool from a wild New Zealand sheep that is extremely strange to work with...it has elasticity and behaves very odd...it curls up into a fuzz. Some people have said throw it away, it is useless...but I am stubborn and believe everything can be used if you just explore!!!! When it is felted it makes holes...I am going to trial making a lacy/open felt with the idea of a lace top. I have 4 fleeces to play with. The sheep are of merino ancestry so the wool is soft and fine...lovely caramel and brown colours

[Shepherdess]

Lovely looking wool. Dying can be very frustrating but lots of fun too. I tried using softened water in my last batch of low water immersion dying and still got none of the splitting I wanted.

[MTRuth]

Ann, just do everything incorrectly or come to my house to get splitting!

[Shepherdess]

I am not precise about measuring or anything. I do not follow formulas I just do it. It is not like there is a lot to do. jam silk in jar, add dye 1, add dye 2 wait half an hour to an hour and add the PHup. wait an hour or more, rinse. sometimes I mix dye to get different colours so you would thing they would split but nope. I have had dark blue spit when dying wool but thats it.

[MTRuth]

I have found that the dyes that split the most are the powders that are made up of the most colors such as brown or black. Also, the darker colors seem to do it more than lighter colors.

[lomahfelt]

I finally used that mix of blues and greens...I had a request for these with a matching pair of boots (not made yet) and the colours were exactly what she wanted...link 

[Cherry]

Beautiful! Please share a pic of the boots when done, too.

[Shepherdess]

Great hood.