November "Cupcake" Dye Day

Last year, the guild invited Kathrin Weber of Blazing Shuttles to introduce our members to her fiber dyeing techniques.  We learned something from her called "Cupcake Dyeing" in which the yarn is dyed while it is in a center pull ball.  There can be several approaches the dyeing procedure and once the dyeing is done and the yarn restored to a skein, it will be magically variegated.

One of our members (Lorene) has a really nice area off of her garage where she pots and houses plants for the winter.  This was cleared away and made an excellent dye studio for us.

Fiber Reactive Dyes were purchased, and we set to work with our prewound balls of cellulose fibers. 


The photo above shows the "cupcakes" in their little plastic containers.  They will stay in them for 24 to 48 hours or more before they are rinsed.

There is hardly anything more fun than playing with color and this activity was pure delight.  We can't wait for the results.

Here is a follow up one week later at our Sage Weavers' Meeting.  Completed cupcakes.  Wow!

 

 

Death-by-Chocolate Dye Day

Today was our death-by-chocolate and dye-day meeting and it was a beautiful day for our 2014/2015 guild year finale.  Thanks Gayle and Jim for letting us once again meet at your place - it was the perfect setting.

Jen was our dye-master for the day, mixing the colors and tending the indigo pot, which is a fickle bit of chemistry.  Yarn had to be slowly lowered into the pot to avoid introducing oxygen, and by the same stroke, when a skein was removed, Jen quickly popped a bowl under it to keep the drips from introducing oxygen - a long process for our dedicated leader.

And this is the said fickle bit of chemistry.  It looks like an experiment gone wrong, only this is exactly what it's supposed to be like when the pot is healthy and full of dye potential.

And gloves are advised unless you don't mind your hands becoming the same shade as your fiber.  Notice the deep indigo skeins already hanging in the back.

We had two acid-dye pots, one red and one yellow, in addition to the indigo pot.  Although acid dye is designed for protein fiber like silk and wool, some adventurous folks did a tie-dye combo using both indigo and acid dyes with fun results.

The indigo pot was giving such deep rich colors, some folks dipped quickly for royal blue and variegated results.  Everyone seemed to have a plan in mind, so I look forward to seeing how we use these skeins.  Mine, a deep blue 8/2 Tencel, is on the left.

And then there was the aptly named death-by-chocolate table.  The selection was varied but all chocolate.  The favorite seemed to be the Kentucky Derby bars, which were a pecan-pie in the center with tollhouse cookie on the outside - recipe to appear in a fall newsletter.

We got a little silly near the end as we waited for yarns in dye baths or indigo skeins to aerate. Gloria pulled out a silk blank and asked for suggestions, and someone produced a roll of vinyl tape so she could tie off sections.  This is the result.

That's all there is to it, and now she has a lovely shawl.  Beryl and Igor's pup is our model's assistant. It couldn't have been a better conclusion to a guild year.  Our next guild meeting will be in September at the South Valleys Library.  But the good news is that starting in June, we will have weaving clinics the second Saturday of each month to keep our momentum going.  As Frank Sinatra sang, it was a very good year!