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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2019 14:21:04 GMT
Though I have used commercial acid dyes for my wool in the past, I'm a Kool-Aid girl now and for the foreseeable future. Here's why:
1. No room for dye-dedicated equipment. Kool-Aid is made for human consumption, so I can dye wool in the morning and make soup in the afternoon in the same pot with the same utensils.
2. Cost. I'm a casual dye-er, and Kool-Aid is casually cheap. I dont need to do any mental gymnastics to justify spending a few quarters at the grocery store.
3. It works. Though people on the internet question bleeding and colorfastness, I haven't yet had a real problem. The worst thing I've experienced is some tinted soap lather from felted soap. The kid that had that soap considered the color a bonus! It didn't color anything but the lather. I've since learned to make sure to set the color at 185F, even if the dye bath is exhausted prior to reaching temp.
However you color your wool, happy dying!
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Post by lyn on Dec 18, 2019 15:01:35 GMT
Kool-Aid comes in lovely colours so why not?
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Post by MTRuth on Dec 18, 2019 17:29:04 GMT
Glad you like using Kool-Aid. I find it too smelly myself but it does give some nice bright colors.
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Post by Shepherdess on Dec 19, 2019 18:43:25 GMT
Kool-aid is great for lots of things.
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Post by Antje on Dec 20, 2019 17:47:42 GMT
Kool Aid is not readily available in the UK but from your comments above I’ll need to look for it & give it a try as I would fit into the casual category too.
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Post by lyn on Dec 20, 2019 22:18:14 GMT
Kool Aid is not readily available in the UK but from your comments above I’ll need to look for it & give it a try as I would fit into the casual category too. It's on Amazon UK Antje. |
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Post by Antje on Dec 21, 2019 8:51:16 GMT
Woohoo....Thanks Lyn.
I need to start carding my mountain of washed fleeces....although I could try some dyeing before I card....mmmm food for thought!
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Post by Cherry on Dec 21, 2019 15:36:26 GMT
Antje, be sure to look at kool-aid color mix charts online. There are many not-so-garish colors possible when you mix the bright bright flavors. Errrr, I mean colors!
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tanya
Junior Member
Posts: 24 
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Post by tanya on Dec 21, 2019 17:30:20 GMT
As far as I understand any food colouring will dye protein based fibres. I have used food colouring gel to dye silk and wool but only in small batches. I don’t know if they are colour fast because I have only used the dyed fibre for needle felted sculptures.
But of course, also food safe so maybe an alternative to Kool Aid?! 😃
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Post by Cherry on Dec 30, 2019 13:07:06 GMT
As far as I understand any food colouring will dye protein based fibres. Hmm. I have got myself some Wilton violet and watched at least a dozen videos about how it breaks when using it to dye wool. A pound of wool arrives today and I hope to be dying some of it tomorrow. I think I can use the breakout colors to good effect.  |
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Post by Shepherdess on Dec 31, 2019 1:15:26 GMT
Take pictures and share them with us.
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Post by Cherry on Jan 2, 2020 14:48:45 GMT
Take pictures and share them with us. Here is the result. I put the food coloring container in the middle so you can see that the pic didn't capture the color right. In real life, there is less red tones, and more shades of blue and purple. |
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Post by MTRuth on Jan 2, 2020 18:01:03 GMT
That came out great!
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Post by Cherry on Jan 2, 2020 22:58:09 GMT
Heh. Thanks All aspects of this wool thing are unpredictable. I'm learning to follow what happens instead of trying hard to make sure specific things happen. The purple-ish wool is almost slippers for a daughter now. One more layer to go, then I'm setting it aside until morning. |
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Post by Pandagirl on Jan 3, 2020 3:19:42 GMT
Beautiful colors! Can’t wait to see the slippers.
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