Mixed-Up Monday: Perfect Plums

Today on Mixed-Up Monday we'll be in search of a perfect plum.   Plum is one of those colors that can vary a lot; everyone has their own idea of what it should be.   My perfect plum is a dark red leaning a bit toward purple.  What's yours?

We'll start things off with a basic plum color then we can spruce it up by adding colors to give it more depth.

What you'll need:

Gloves

Wool or yarn (animal fibers)

Acid: citric or vinegar

Dyes: acid dye solutions of Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, Brown, (CMY recipe coming soon)

Dyepot

Measuring Spoons

I'll be using 1 oz bundles of Mixed Breed Wool combed top.  I always soak fibers by enclosing them in nylon net.  This keeps everything nice and neat.   

Soak these in some water until fully saturated.

Fill a dyepot with a few inches of water, enough to completely cover your wool or yarn when you add it in later.  I added 1/2 tsp citric acid,  or 2 tsp vinegar for 1 oz of wool.  

I'm using red and blue for today but I do occasionally use CMY dyes to get a plum color.  (recipe for that one will be given soon)

Add 2 TB (or 30ml) of Red dye stock to your pot. 

Then add 4 tsp (or 20 ml) of Blue dye stock to the pot.

Grab the wool you've been soaking and gently press out excess water.  Add it to the pot.

The learning curve with using Red and Blue is that the colors look super faded before heating.  They need the heat to really pop!

  Put the lid on and heat this up slowly on a low setting.  I was alternating between 1 and 2 on my burner for about 20 minutes.   You may also have to gently turn your fiber over during this process, the blue dye likes to stick the bottom. 

Let cool.  Gently place your freshly dyed fiber in a soak with tap water with a couple drops of Blue Dawn or textile detergent.  And then a final soak with plain water.

Let dry.  Bundle it up and admire your plum wool.  :)

Variations:

Adding 1 tsp Yellow dye stock gives the basic recipe more depth.  A bit hard to capture with my camera, sorry!

Add 1 TB of Brown dye stock to darken and soften the blue tones.

Adding 1 tsp of black dye stock darkens it and plays up the blue tones.

You can also play with depth of shade by adding less dye.  It's a pretty lilac color.  :)

This group picture is a bit off, sorry about that!  The colors are more accurate against the white backgrounds above.

Have fun!  I hope you find your perfect plum!  (mine's the far right) :D

xo

Mixed-Up Monday, Pumpkin

Happy Fall!  It's that time of year where we see Pumpkin Spice popping up everywhere.  Lattes, Oreos, cupcakes, beer,.... what's next!?    Why not fiber, right?   While you may not be able to eat the fiber (unless you're a larva, of course), you can create the color Pumpkin Spice for your fall fiber endeavors.

What you'll need:

Gloves

Acid: citric acid or vinegar

Fiber:  wool or yarn (animal based)

Stock solutions:  yellow, red, blue, brown, black

Dyepot: stainless steel or ceramic

Measuring spoons

I'll be dyeing 1oz bundles of mixed breed wool combed top.  I soak them in some room temperature tap water until saturated.

Add a few inches of room temperature tap water to your dyepot, just enough to cover your wool when you put it in later.  Add 1/2 tsp citric acid, or a couple teaspoons of vinegar. 

The color pumpkin has a lot more yellow than red;  the ratio I use is 3 parts yellow to 1 part red.   Add 2 TB (or 6 tsp, or 30 ml, whatever spoon you have) of yellow stock solution.

Add 2 tsp (10 ml) of red stock solution.

Gently press out excess moisture out of your soaked wool and add to your dyepot.

Make sure all the wool is submerged.  

Cover pot and set your burner to low. Check in about 20 minutes.  Water should be almost clear when done.  If it's not clear, let it heat a bit longer.

Let cool.  

Gently lift out fiber and place in a soak (room temp tap water with a couple drops of blue Dawn or textile detergent).   After a few minutes place wool in a final soak of clear tap water.

Press out excess water and let dry.  

This is a basic Pumpkin shell color.  Let's spice it up!

Adding just 1/2 tsp of brown dye stock to the basic recipe really changes it up.

Add even more brown, 1 TB total, to basic recipe, yum!

Here I added 1/4 tsp BLUE dye stock to the basic recipe.   It's the opposite color on the wheel.  A pretty earthy orange is the result.

Adding 1/8 tsp black to the basic recipe results in a nice cinnamon color.

Have fun and experiment!  

Good enough to eat! (but please don't)

xo

Next on Mixed-Up Monday:  Plum

Mixed-Up Monday, Pale Pinks

This week we're playing with pale pink.  Think summer sunsets, petals, and cotton candy.  There are so many different subtle shades of pink. We're only dyeing 5 this week but you can experiment and come up with your own perfect pink!

What you'll need:

Gloves

Acid: citric acid or vinegar

Acid Dye Stock Solutions:  magenta, yellow, turquoise, brown, and black

Wool or Yarn

Dyepot: stainless steel or enamel crock pot

Measuring spoons

Gather your wool and soak in room temperature tap water until fully saturated.  I'm using 1 oz bundles of mixed breed combed top.

Fill a dyepot with a few inches of tap water.  Add 1/2 tsp citric acid or 2 tsp vinegar. (this is for 1 oz of fiber)

Add 1/4 tsp of Magenta dye solution.  A little goes a long way!

Add wool or yarn.  Press wool down gently to cover all areas.  Cover and turn on low heat.  Heat this up slowly.  Check after 15 minutes to see if dye has exhausted.  If not, let it heat for a bit longer checking every 5 minutes. Water will be clear.  

Let cool.  I like to transfer freshly dyed wool by using a piece of nylon net.  It keeps the fibers from floating around too much while you rinse and soak.  Put this fiber in a sink full of water that has a drop or two of textile detergent (or blue Dawn).  I let it soak a few minutes and then do one final rinse by setting the bundle in a sink of fresh water.  Gently press out excess water and hang dry.

This is the basic pink recipe.  Pretty, huh?  A perfect shade of cotton candy pink!

Variations:

Here I added 1/8 tsp of turquoise to the basic recipe.  It's now a pretty orchid pink.

Added 1/4 tsp of yellow in this dyepot.  Pink leaning toward pale coral.

Adding 1/4 tsp of brown goes to dusty rose.

Add 1/8 tsp of black for a pretty silvery lilac shade.

You can mix and come up with so many different hues.  Try yellow and brown, or maybe a turquoise and black?  Just remember you only need a little to change it up!

Have fun!

xo

Next time on Mixed-Up Monday: Pumpkin 

Mixed-Up Monday, Lime Green

 This week we're aiming for lime green.  The thing with colors is that everyone has their own ideas of what a color should be.

 

 When I think of lime green, I really don't think of an actual lime. It's not exactly neon green like the swimsuit I had in 1988 either.  Lime green, in my mind, is right between the two.  I'll be mixing up a few shades so hopefully the shade of lime green in your mind will be here too.

What you'll need:
Gloves
Acid: citric acid or vinegar
Dye Stocks: Yellow, Turquoise, and Brown  (purple is optional)
Measuring Spoons
Fiber or Yarn (animal fibers): I'm using 1 oz bundles
Dyepot:  stainless steel or crock pot, not to be used for food...ever again

Gather your wool or yarn, and soak in some plain tap water until saturated.  I'm using a mixed breed wool.

Add a few inches of water to your dyepot just so it will cover the wool when you put it in there later.

Add in your acid.  I'm adding about 1/2 tsp citric acid for 1 oz of fiber. You can add a couple tsp of vinegar if you don't have citric acid.   I start with 1/2 tsp citric per oz for medium colors, lighter colors get a bit less, while more saturated/darker colors get more.

Add 2 Tablespoons of yellow stock solution.  Water is still room temp, no heat yet.

Next, add in 1/2 teaspoon turquoise dye stock.

Grab 1 oz of wool from soaking bucket and gently squeeze out excess water.  Add it to the dyepot.

You're going to want to heat this up real slow with as little agitation as possible.  Cover it and turn it on to the low setting for about 20 minutes.  Water should be clear.  If not, let it sit and heat a bit longer.  A hint of turquoise in the water is ok.  

Let cool.  

Take fiber out and soak in tap water with a fiber wash or a drop of blue Dawn.  I use a piece of nylon net to wrap the fibers in while rinsing and soaking.

Transfer to rinse (plain tap) water carefully.  

Squeeze out excess water and hang dry.

Bundle it up and admire your Lime Green wool. 

  

Variations:

Lighten it up by adding less dye to dyepot.

Here I added 1/4 of the dye on left, 1/2 the dye in middle, right is the full recipe.

Too bright?  Dull it down a bit with brown or purple, or both!

Mix the recipe as stated above and add 1/2 tsp brown (or purple) to the pot.  

Front color has added purple.  Middle color has added brown.  Way back is both brown and purple added.   It is more of an avocado green now. 

You can add either the brown or contrast color (purple on color wheel) and get pretty much the same result.  I usually use brown to calm down colors because I have it handy in a stock solution. 

Which one do you think is the limey-est? 

xo

Next Up on Mixed-Up Monday:  Shades of Pale Pink

Mixed-Up Monday: Getting Started with Stock Solutions

I'm beginning a blog series about color blending with acid dyes. Mixed-Up Mondays!  If you're into WoF's, percentages, and lots of precise measurements, this may not be for you.   Every dyer has their own process; this happens to be mine.

I'll be using Jacquard Acid Dyes (and one Dharma)  for this series.  I have the primary colors CMY, RB, black and brown.
Jacquard 624 Turquoise
Dharma 411 Deep Magenta
Jacquard 601 Sun Yellow
Jacquard 617 Cherry Red
Jacquard 621 Sky Blue
Jacquard 639 Jet Black
Jacquard 632 Chestnut

You can make any color imaginable with just these 7 dyes.  Please note you may mix your own brown,  I purchase the brown just to make my life a bit easier.  I like to work with dyes using a concentrated stock solution because it is easier to mix and get my target color.  After some practice, when you see a color you want, you'll be able to break it down to it's primaries and recreate it on fiber or yarn.

What you'll need:

damp towel (or sham-wow)
gloves
dust mask
plastic bottles (I recycle Gatorade or Vitamin Water bottles)
measuring cup
measuring spoon
warm water
acid dye powder in primary colors:  Turquoise, Magenta, Yellow, Red, Blue, Black, and Brown

Place your damp towel on your work surface to catch any stray dye powder.  Put on your mask and gloves.

 Add about 16 oz (about 2 cups) of warm water to your plastic bottle.

  Next, add 2 level tsp of dye powder.

 Cover and give it a good shake for a minute.

Do this for each color you have. Sometimes there will be bubbles so let those settle before opening.  

You can use these solutions for a few days, they will be fine.  Solids and globs (that's the scientific term there) may form after a few days.  Just reheat the bottle in a hot water bath and give it a good shake again.   We're all set for some color blending!


Up Next on Mixed-Up Monday: (reader color request) Lime Green