hello fellow dyers,

I am a weaver/spinner/felter who also happens to dye.. What else is new!

I dye mainly protein type fibres, especially mohair.  I have been dyeing for as long as I have been hand spinning.  

For a while I marketed my own mohair yarn from the fibres of my Angora goats.  I dyed the yarn and marketed it in original

dyed 8 oz skeins.  That was before the term "colourway" came out!

I no longer raise Angora goats, but I still keep dyeing my fibres and yarns for weaving, spinning or felting.

I have not favourite colour.  I am still looking for the perfect colour combination!  So, I guess I will be dyeing for a while 

longer...

Looking forward to hear from you

Mireille

Comments

Tue, 07/07/2009 - 22:20

trishSA (not verified)

Hi, I love to dye. I mostly dye cotton, tencel and rayon.  I usually use Procion because it is so easy. I hope to learn new ways to dye!

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 13:37

kathkol (not verified)

 I was just wondering the other day if there would be interest in a dye group here. Thanks!

I dye anything and everything - fiber, yarn, fabric, clothing.  I use both chemical and natural dyes.  

I lead natural dye workshops  Right now I am not doing a lot of natural dyeing, but I am busy collecting the plant bounty of our Michigan summer and freezing or drying it to use later for workshops and my personal dyeing.  Before she died seven months ago, my best friend and I had a small business selling naturally dyed yarns to shops and online.

I love to try different dye techniques!  Right now I am doing a lot with shibori and resists, using indigo and other dyes.  

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 13:37

kathkol (not verified)

 I was just wondering the other day if there would be interest in a dye group here. Thanks!

I dye anything and everything - fiber, yarn, fabric, clothing.  I use both chemical and natural dyes.  

I lead natural dye workshops  Right now I am not doing a lot of natural dyeing, but I am busy collecting the plant bounty of our Michigan summer and freezing or drying it to use later for workshops and my personal dyeing.  Before she died seven months ago, my best friend and I had a small business selling naturally dyed yarns to shops and online.

I love to try different dye techniques!  Right now I am doing a lot with shibori and resists, using indigo and other dyes.  

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 22:11

Cheekyredhead (not verified)

I'm a relatively new dyer and so far have just been playing with Jaquard dyes.  I've been getting some fun results.  I'm espcially proud that I was able to mix a color to match a specific fabric color.  A group of friends are making an set of clothing for someone special who is getting an award in our SCA group.  The dress needed lacing.  I dyed several samples of yarn I had spun and one of my spinning/weaving students made the lacing cord with a lucet.  While the dyeing technique isn't period for the SCA I'm just happy that I could help with the project in some way.

I'm going to start an indgo vat sometime in the very near future.

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 00:09

Evelyn (not verified)

Hi all  - I love dying my own yarn and overdying fabrics and projects that haven't turned out the way I intended.  

Years and years ago I began a study of dyes using  Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers by Linda Knutson  as my reference and using acid  dyes.    I made a binder of primary and secondary colours in gradations from  .1% - 4% with various wools and silks.  I have always intended to continue the study with tertiary colours, but never found the time!   

I have always wanted to try an indigo vat and do have some to use.  Maybe this summer, with some of my shibori samples I plan to weave.

 

 

 

 

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 13:17

jemwork (not verified)

Summer is the best time to get some dyeing done. A couple weeks ago, my guild(Chautauqua Co Weaver's Guild) had a dye day in the back yard of a member. A fun time was had by all.

We were dyeing plant fiber with procion primary colors, mixing what we wanted either in cups or on the yarn. This was a painting exercise, not immersion dyeing.

Lucky me - too much dye was mixed, so I was able to bring home containers of the 3 colors & have my own dye day last longer! I still have dye left, after doing 3 additional batches. The last batch didn't take as well - I suspect my stretched time-line has passed.

I'm hoping to get some animal fiber dyeing done later this summer. The weather needs to warm up more reliably. Too many days in the 60's.

Thanks for starting this topic - we all need to get together (virtually) & dye!

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 13:36

JoAnnaWeaves (not verified)

Hi everyone!
I am also a dyer. At this point I haven't dyed much yarn but I have done lots of fabric dyeing as well as screen printing. I have really only dyed using Procion dyes and I've printed with textile pigments. I am very interested in experimenting with natural dyeing. But at this point, I can't really do much dyeing because I live in a tiny campus housing apartment in which my loom takes up about half my living room. :) I decided to buy a loom now while I'm still in school so I could have some type of fibers craft to do at home but I MISS DYEING!! Are there natural dyes I could use that don't require a lot of chemicals? I would really like to do painted warps for weaving. Any ideas?

JoAnna

Sat, 07/11/2009 - 13:50

villageweaver (not verified)

Hi Kathy,

Do you have a list of workshops you'll be teaching? Please let me know when you might have them.

Mary

Wed, 07/15/2009 - 03:23

Cheryl Muckenfuss (not verified)

Hi,

I dye fibers (protein) for spinning using The Country Classic or One Shot acid dyes.  I do immersion, crockpot, electric turkey roaster dyeing and painted roving.  Up to now I have not necessarily wanted to achieve an exact color/shade/ tint etc; but rather enjoy just playing with my guesstimation of the mixing of the dyes.  I am now just beginning to think about utilizing the Lanaset dyes and dye solutions in order to gain the control necessary for more predictable outcomes.

Cheryl in Cincy

Mon, 07/20/2009 - 05:37

liana (not verified)

kathkol,

I have taken two dyeing classes so far and love it.  Both were premixed before I arrived so I still need to learn that part.  I am sorry to hear of your lose, kathkol.  I am interested in a class that offers the mixing portion of the dyeing class but I live in California now and that can be a problem getting to a class in Michigan.  Do you travel?  I would love to take a class.

Mon, 07/20/2009 - 05:44

liana (not verified)

Our guild (THAT Guild) in Agua Dulce, CA just finshed a day of Indigo dyeing this past Saturday.  It was about 110 outside and we were blessed to work at a member's shop.  It was great fun and I just love how the clothing turned out.  Each dyed one or two items and some did shibori techniques before dyeing.  They had two Indigo vats going and talked about the different ways they were prepared.  The vat that had been heated was a very dark rich almost purple blue.  The vat with the amounts of dye and soda ash and rite dye remover but not heated just left to sit for 2 hours or more, the clothes were a soft medium blue and almost modeled.  Very beautiful as well.  I am surprised that it made so much difference with the outcome.  I am interested in learning more.

Mon, 07/27/2009 - 13:50

nekidesu (not verified)

hello,

new here.

i love to dye using both vegetable and synthetic dyes.

right now i have 3 indigo vats going and i'm also doing some deconstructed screen printing.

best,

neki desu

Mon, 08/03/2009 - 01:27

whorlwindweaver (not verified)

I'm a dyed in the wool kind of dyer--that is I dye the clean fleece and then card it before spinning.  I occasionally dye yarn and roving, but prefer to start with the fleece.  I use synthetic dyes, but have thought of experimenting with natural colors also.

My goals include attempting a painted warp.  But before then, I wil try dyeing some silk hankies fun colorways.

 

Rose

Mon, 08/03/2009 - 11:36

jemwork (not verified)

Indigo is fun to play around with. Interesting that warmth & cool both work. I'd always heard that the dye takes as the fiber is immersed, it shows as its pulled out & oxidises. Repeated immersions are needed to deepen the color.

Thu, 08/06/2009 - 20:32

blossommerz (not verified)

 Hey, there!

I'm a production weaver in San Francisco, using an AVL mechanical dobby to produce 60" yardage.

I ran a little business years ago washing, dyeing, carding, spinning, and knitting hats. Back then I carefully developed a dye notebook with Lanaset acid dyes. Boy am I glad I did! That notebook means that I can get whatever color I want pretty quickly using the same old formulas. I refer to it every time I dye.

Nowadays I weave mostly cotton since we're selling to customers in California. Not much use for wool here. I need to recreate the dye notebook with Procion MX. I've got the dyes, just not the time to carefully mix and record the 200 or so formulas with their results.

I need to figure out ways to use small quantities of hand-dyed yarn as accents. My current weaving rate is 2-3 pounds of 8/2 cotton per hour. There's no way I can dye the yarn and keep up with the rate at which I weave it. One day, though! I think I'll start with supplemental warp shibori so it's the cloth being dyed instead of the yarn.

I thought this group might be interested in a rambling little piece I just wrote. It's an introduction to color theory as it applies to dyeing: The "REAL" Color Wheel.

Enjoy!

Blossom

 

Fri, 08/07/2009 - 03:46

Caroline (not verified)

Thank you for posting the link, it should be compulsory reading for anyone blithely dyeing their own fibres or yarns and thinking a bit of colour theory doesn't matter! Ask me how I know, hehe!

Thu, 08/13/2009 - 01:13

Evelyn (not verified)

My Indigo fermentation pot/  dyeing experiment - just posted my first results on my blog.   Whew - what a smell!

http://evelynoldroyd.wordpress.com/

Tue, 08/18/2009 - 14:32

jemwork (not verified)

Thanks for the link as well. Your weaving is lovely - very different from what I try to do. I will never be a production weaver. I'm always interested in the next, so I get maybe three or four things from a warp & go on to the next.

I love to study color, but its easy to get hung up on the technical language. You helped me focus on what my eye-light-object interaction is doing/maybe doing. Of course theres more out there. Have you continued the idea?

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 00:27

Bear Weaver (not verified)

 Hello Everyone! Color is my passion. And I  have never met a color I did not like! I do alot of dyeing for our shop and I enjoy both protein and bast fiber dyeing. I enjoy hand painted warps and have been lucky to have studied with Don and Adel Weiner of Pro-Chem many years ago. They being dye chemists of course went way to far into the chemistry of dyeing, and to be honest  I still work on understanding that more fully. I also studied with Pat Lambert in regards to color and optical mxitures. If you have not seen her book "Color & Fiber" you really should check it out. I use mostly Jacquard acid dyes and MX fiber reactive dyes. I am currently considering working towards a COE in dyeing. Has anyone considered that or has any insighrts into the process. I really want to learn and not waster my time and effort into something that will prove usefull. Have Fun and dye boldly. 

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 03:46

blossommerz (not verified)

Production at the scale I'm doing is way different than most people. Very few people want to weave the same thing over and over again all day for weeks at a time, but *I* love it. :)

I'm working right now on moving the whole studio to a cabin in the woods for a couple of months. I've got at least two more posts to write on basic color theory: "saturation" and "value". They'll have to wait until I'm settled into my new rural routine, though, because they require much more detailed illustrations.

Thanks for the compliment. I think that the post would be far better if I broke it into a couple chunks and had better illustrations. Like the filtering effect of pigment, for instance.

I'm rambling. It must be time for bed...

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 12:05

Russian Princess (not verified)

I enjoyed your article on color...write more! You've written it from a point of view that adds something new to my art school knowledge of color. Now, did the opalescent object really change color subtly on my screen or is that my imagination? I seemed to slowly "move" shifting color from lighter to darker. Or do I just need more coffee in this early A.M.? (Yawn, it is early...)

Nina

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:20

tien (not verified)

Hey Blossom,

You might consider using Cibacron (Sabracron) F fiber-reactives instead of MX.  They require slightly warmer temperatures, but they wash out MUCH more easily and give more "WYSIWYG" results than MX.  I made the switch a few years back, on advice from Deb Menz's book, and have never regretted it.  Pro Chemical carries it - I like it a LOT.  Not as many prefab colors as MX, but since you'll be doing your own dye mixing that shouldn't be a problem for you.

If you just want to try it out, you're welcome to borrow some of mine...I could bring it by on Thursday.

Tien

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 16:09

blossommerz (not verified)

 Hmmm... Maybe it's your screen warming up. :)

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 19:44

djfiberarts (not verified)

Hi all - I dye with both natural dyes and synthetic. I like growing the dye plants as much as I like dying. I like natural dying because I kind of like the element of surprise. It's fun. Painting roving is fun too.

DJ

Thu, 09/03/2009 - 14:00

Robin Edmundson (not verified)

Hi everyone -  I dye with anything I can get my hands on, but prefer the fiber reactives and acids.   I sell a line of hand dyed yarns and most of my weaving is hand dyed in at least some part as well.   robinjedmundson.etsy.com  and www.robinjedmundson.com

Someone mentioned how important color theory is to dyers.  I couldn't agree more!   It's been indispensable to me.   I highly recommend Deb Menz's book ColorWorks and the Henry Munsell color theory book published by Fairchild. 

 

Sun, 10/04/2009 - 14:18

esmesmom (not verified)

Hi everyone,

I'm very new at all of this, having attended my first Dyeing Day on September 13.  Up here in the cold places we are very focused on animal fibers, so that's what I do.

Am looking forward to learning more about color and how to get it into the fiber.

Sun, 10/04/2009 - 14:57

villageweaver (not verified)

Hi Blossom, when...if...please, you publish thiese records, please sell me the first copy!

Mary

Sun, 10/04/2009 - 14:59

villageweaver (not verified)

I spied a cool very sturdy looking warping reel in one of your photos... who manufactures it? thanks.

mary

 

 

Sun, 10/04/2009 - 21:03

blossommerz (not verified)

You know, I wish I knew. I bought it on eBay. There are no manufacturers markings on it, so it can't be a big company. Probably just some woodworker who made a few of these...

Sorry.

Blossom

Sun, 10/04/2009 - 22:31

villageweaver (not verified)

Sorry Blossom, i was actually trying to ask Mireille!! these threads are a little confusing.

Mary