Dyeing Skeins for Weaving

 

Reno Fiber Guild members were treated to a dye workshop with Diane S. (former co-owner of the Just Our Yarn Company).  Diane showed us the methods she used when dyeing skeins for her former company.  The skein she is holding up in the photo  at the left isn't her method.  Instead she showed us how to paint a few different colors on each skein in a more random pattern. 

The photo to the right is the array of dyes prepared for us to use.  There were so many choices, it was hard to pick just a few.

 

These are skeins painted by Anni B.  They were allowed to batch for 48 hours and then Anni rinsed the excess dye out of them and enjoyed the wonderful color display.  Wonder what she will weave with these beauties.

 

 Diane dyed one skein black for a guild member.  The others are examples for us to follow and then the outside skeins are ones in which she used some of our leftover dye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Skeins to the left were dyed by Igor and Beryl.  Looks like brilliant parrot colors, don't they?

 

The group of dyers had a fabulous time.  There is nothing like dabbling in color to make your heart sing. 

 

 

 

 

 Kathy W.'s skeins are in the photo below.  What colors - what possibilities!

 

Sandy R.'s skeins on her drying rack.  Brilliant colors and lots of blue skies!

Jann S. chose some lovely colors for her skeins - turquoise, fuchsia , orange and purple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne W. has some lovely yarn to work with.  She was especially happy that Diane's techniques reduced the amount of water needed to rinse out the excess dye.
 

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!

 

 

Annual Chocolate and Dye Day

The Reno Fiber guild has had a long tradition of a chocolate feast on their last meeting of the season.  This is our second year of combining the feast with an indigo vat.  We also had  a couple of acid dye pots, a cochineal pot, and some kakishibui (fermented persimmon dye).  This year it was gently raining most of the day in Reno which didn't seem to deter the group one little bit because we were under cover. Our hosts, (Gayle and her husband Jim) provided the garages for the dye fest. 
Jen had prepared the indigo vat in advance.  Last year she used the fructose vat recipe.   This year we read about using henna as the reducing agent and Jen purchased some and used it.  Wow - what deep blues were coming out of the pot; it seemed to go on and on before it was exhausted and had to be renewed before it was pulled back in to service.  We are thinking that the henna is the secret ingredient.  You can learn more about this from the Maiwa handout and can order henna from Botanical Colors who also gives instructions about using it with indigo.

Since we had been studying Japanese Textiles this year, people brought scarves and pieces of fabric to clamp and resist in various ways.  Some of these went into the acid dye pots (Sabraset Dye) and some got dipped in indigo.  People fooled around with the kakishibui and wished for a bit of sun to darken their work.  The sun peeked out briefly - enough for us to see that it really did darken the fabric dipped in the kakishibui.  We purchased enough for one liter of dye from the North American supplier and worried there might not be enough for everyone to try.  But it really went a long way.

Of course, we kept nibbling at all the delicious chocolate treats shown here on the table.  Nothing makes working in the rain more palatable than chocolate!

It was a lovely day and at the end, plenty of handspun yarns had been dyed, scarves were unbound and admired and we all wound up wondering how we were going to possibly get rid of the leftover chocolate.

March Dyeing Madness with Kathrin Weber of Blazing Shuttles

color sample skeins drying in the sun

 

Kathrin Weber of Blazing Shuttles came west this spring to do several workshops and teach at CNCH2016 in Modesto.  RFG considered themselves quite lucky to be able to book her for a dyeing workshop "Not Your Grandma's Dyepot" while she was in our vicinity. 

 

We donned our funky clothing - brought buckets, cups and measuring spoons and an array of containers along with warp chains and skeins to learn the art of creating fabulous dyed yarns.   Now to the comments about this fabulous class from participants.

 

"I had a great time. I learned a lot. Wish there had been a bit more on mixing the colors, but I think she wanted us to learn by trial and error. Kathrin Weber was fun and engaging. I also liked the cupcakes and samples projects."  - Shelley N.

"I've been steering clear of dyeing. That has changed since Kathrin's workshop. Her technique is easy and fun. My "cupcakes" turned out to be like the variegated yarns I'm always looking for . Now I can make my own. Kathrin was a helpful and patient instructor with humor mixed in." - Lorene S.

"I have already put much of what I learned this week to work. No matter how long I work with yarn, dyes and color, I keep learning more. Would recommend Kathrin's workshop to everyone."

Nancy P.

"The Weber workshop was fantastic! It was well organized, fast paced, and very informative. Kathrin is a good teacher, very lively, and I'd recommend it and her to any others. I learned new ways to dye, and a new regard for colors I wouldn't have thought to try together. I still have a lot to learn about color, and am excited to use the new warps/skeins with materials I already have to see what happens when they cross--hope it isn't mud. Many thanks to Suzanne, et al., for organizing this one, and Igor for acting as angel. "  - Kay F.

"Kathrin made this class educational, informative and fun. She generously shared her expertise and tricks and encouraged us to take risks. What a gift! For someone who thought I would NEVER need to dye, I can't wait to do some more!" -  Nancy S.

"For some time, I’ve been watching the wonderful projects coming forth from Kathrin’s workshops and wanted to get in on the action. I have quite a bit of previous dyeing experience, but this workshop  had a ton of techniques and interesting directions that I hadn’t tried before. It was an exciting couple of days and I heartily recommend Kathrin’s workshop for anyone who wants to make projects that explode with color and visual interest."      
 Beryl M.

"Must say this was one of the best and possibly the best workshop I have attended. The presentation was top-notch, smooth, professional and not confining. I think those in attendance probably took more information with them than they expected.  Kathrin is a very good instructor; very much a promoter of learning by doing and this means getting in and playing with the colors. Very enjoyable, highly recommended." - Igor R.

"We had a wonderful 2 days of learning Kathrin's method of space dying skeins and warps.  What a fun couple of days!  Lots of techniques for both weavers and knitters...This is a "must have" class for weavers.  It was amazing to see what had been woven on the warps that she had dyed...simply gorgeous!  Knitters will enjoy her class as you learn to blend the colors on the skeins." -  Jane M.