Yarn dyeing resources?

[untonuggan]

I know this is *slightly* off-topic, but I was wondering if anyone had any links to some good tutorials on dyeing your own yarn. (I have come to realize that if I'm going to support my spinning habit *and* my knitting habit, I better start dyeing my own fibers.) I know I've seen posts over time on dreamwidth, which is part of what sparked my interest in the first place. Where those posts are, I do not know.

Also, any thoughts on natural dyes versus I-don't-even-know-what-the-term-is dyes, books, etc. would be most helpful! Thank you!

^____^

Comments

[neotoma]

Chemical dyes is the term you're looking for. They're a lot safer to use and give more reliable results, and are easier for a beginner than natural dyes.

I suggest Color in Spinning by Deb Menz if you can find a copy, or her Color Works book.

[untonuggan]

Sorry for the delayed response! Thank you for your reply - will definitely check that book out. ^___^

[twistedchick]

I have been using food coloring and/or Kool-ade and/or natural substances (leaves, nuts, avocado skins) for dyeing wool for several years with good results. If you are interested, write me and I'll tell you more about the process.

The problem (for me) with chemical dyes is that I would need an entirely separate set of pots for them, and I don't have that much room. With the dyes that I use, I can continue to use the pots for cooking.

[indywind]

For reasons like this, all my home dyeing has been with food products --either kool-aid, food dye, or food products that produce dye effects.

Of the later, yellow is a relatively easy color to get, mordanted with alum (powdered salt of aluminum, generally obtainable wherever one finds supplies for canning). Cheap/free things that make nice yellow colour: dry skins of yellow/spanish onions (some supermarkets don't mind if you just clean out all the discarded skins from their bins), dry powdered turmeric (my local Indian grocery sells a sufficient quantity to dye a blanket for about $2). Turmeric is relatively colorfast (for a natural dye) on both animal and plant fibers, and a has interesting bug/features: material dyed with turmeric is much more intensely colored when wet (so that things that look sunny yellow when dry can look citrus orange when wet), and it dyes a deeper color in the presence of mineral salts -- so you could do gradients or painted designs by pre-mordanting the fiber. (I found out the later when a friend overdyed a faded old thrift-store blouse with turmeric, obtained a beautiful bright new-looking blouse... with orange armpits because of the mineral residue from antiperspirant deodorants (which often contain aluminum salts).

[twistedchick]

I've been experimenting with doing dyeing in an old aluminum pot, which seems to take care of the alum question (I don't use aluminum for cooking). Avocado skins, unexpectedly, produce a blush pink.

Also -- I would recommend 'The Book of Herbs' by John Lust (thick modestly priced paperback, usually) as an excellent place to start for everything herbal, including dyeing.

[untonuggan]

TYVM for all the info! ^___^

[rainbow]

knitty has a couple decent ones:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/FEATdyeyourown.html (dyeing w/ acid dyes)
http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html (dyeing w/ koolaid)

[untonuggan]

Ooooh, excellent. *facepalms* for not looking there before.

[adonnchaid]

What dyes you use depends a lot on what result you want :) Chemical dyes tend to be more color fast than some of the natural dyes (but not always).

A good place to start looking for dye information (as well as a good source of products) is Dharma Trading Company. They have a good number of tutorials on their site along with a lot of good products.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/info/ scroll down to "dyes" and click on it to open a long list of informational articles.

[untonuggan]

Thanks so much for the info! It's also so hard to know which dyes to buy, so it's good to have a reputable link. ^___^

[momijizukamori]

If you're on Ravelry, What a Kool Way to Dye (food coloring and Koolaid acid dyeing) and Plants to Dye For (natural dyes) are both good groups with a ton of resource links and helpful threads.

I'd suggest starting with food coloring acid dyeing - despite what it seems, it's a lot safer than most natural dyes - the 'acid' part is either vinegar or citric acid (which is what makes koolaid tangy), while almost all natural dyes require metal solutions to develop and fix the color, which tend to range from 'slightly toxic' to 'very toxic' and require careful use and disposal. A lot of professional acid dyes also have some toxic components, although usually the risk is only while they're in powdered form (though you have a wider range of colors, and get more dye for your money).

Food coloring dyeing is easy to get supplies for, and everything is food-safe, so you can use pots you already have instead of dedicating a whole new set of tools for dyeing (particularly when you're just starting out).

All these are for protein fibers - basically any animal fiber (wool/alpaca/mohair/etc), silk, and rayon. Plant fibers (cotton, bamboo, hemp, linen) take a different approach, and most manmade fibers don't take dye at all.

[untonuggan]

Thank you! this is tres, tres helpful. Also the Kool Aide dyeing sounds like a fun project to do with my nephews.

[momijizukamori]

I love doing yarn and fabric dyeing, and it totally turns me into a giddy little kid, so yes, I can imagine it'd be a rather fun group project :)