Wool Dying Adventure
Here's an overview of my first dyeing experience!
OK, so I started with 1 pound of corriedale wool from the Copper Moose website. A pound is a lot of fiber!
The first step is to soak the wool for about 1 hour. This removes any excess lanolin. Plus, wet wool will absorb the dye a lot better. I looooved reaching in and getting the wool out because the water was all silky with lanolin. My hands felt awesome!
While the fiber soaked, I prepared the "dyes". I decided to use Kool-Aid for a variety of reasons: It's cheap and easy to work with. You don't have to add an acid, since the citric acid in the Kool-Aid sets the dye. Plus it smells sort of awesome while you're steaming it.
My method for dying wool was a type of "hand painting". I started out with gloves but at some point I was just like "screw it" and went for it. It is messy and inexact and wonderful:
Some of my color choices were great, others not:
Next, you roll it up into packets and steam it on the stove. This step can be done in the microwave, but I'm obsessed with doing things the "old fashioned way". This is probably why I've done all my spinning on a drop spindle and not a wheel.
Then you soak it again, to get out the excess dyes:
Woo! So here it is hanging to dry in my messy laundry room:
How the dried roving looks:
And all braided up for storage!
OK, so I started with 1 pound of corriedale wool from the Copper Moose website. A pound is a lot of fiber!
The first step is to soak the wool for about 1 hour. This removes any excess lanolin. Plus, wet wool will absorb the dye a lot better. I looooved reaching in and getting the wool out because the water was all silky with lanolin. My hands felt awesome!
While the fiber soaked, I prepared the "dyes". I decided to use Kool-Aid for a variety of reasons: It's cheap and easy to work with. You don't have to add an acid, since the citric acid in the Kool-Aid sets the dye. Plus it smells sort of awesome while you're steaming it.
My method for dying wool was a type of "hand painting". I started out with gloves but at some point I was just like "screw it" and went for it. It is messy and inexact and wonderful:
Some of my color choices were great, others not:
Next, you roll it up into packets and steam it on the stove. This step can be done in the microwave, but I'm obsessed with doing things the "old fashioned way". This is probably why I've done all my spinning on a drop spindle and not a wheel.
Then you soak it again, to get out the excess dyes:
Woo! So here it is hanging to dry in my messy laundry room:
How the dried roving looks:
And all braided up for storage!