Category Archives: Natural Dye

Scarf No.9

Posted on by

7

Hi, its me Abelene.

In the end, it was impossible to photograph, the colors could not be grasped by the camera. Even after trying a hundred shots, in different areas of lighting, only these few worked out. But Jen told me how amazing this one was to be weaving freely with no measured blocks of color, just changing quill bobbins randomly, and she has a lot to say about the whole project in the weaving notes below, so I’ll just smile and wave. I personally think the Marigold Scarf (no.9) is so beautiful, in its deep and rich gold tones, and I wish you could see the colors as they really are, but this photo out of all the many, captures the colors best . . .

♣   Weaving Notes  ♣

Note from Jen: Yes, this project was difficult, and I must confess I am not all that encouraged about dyeing cotton but am gaining perspective in the concept of “slow cloth”. After the many steps of scouring, mordanting, dyeing, then finally washing and rinsing, the actual yarn, and that is before the loom is even warped. I must ask myself is it worth it? I ponder this because I really love weaving, but maybe the added overwhelm from dyeing the cotton yarns first did add a new level of complexity. I have tried indigo, madder, pomegranate and marigold, and in every yarn the results were dull and almost unappealing as the sheen of the undyed mercerized cotton was lost after all the processing through the steps, the luster was gone. I will not give up, I just need a small break, in order to be fresh for learning again. You can see all posts for this project here.

  • Yarn: Yellow , dark gold , green gold overdyed 10/2 yarn (see this post. )
  • Loom: Ashford 16″ rigid heddle loom.
  • Additional tools: I used a temple and the board I rest against the cloth beam to stabilize and lengthen the weaving surface.
  • Warp:  Direct warp set-up, 1 end in every heddle/hole, and 1 in every dent/slot –drawing out from apron rod to peg is approx 110 inches from apron rod to warping peg.
  • Number of warp ends: 239.
  • Reed: 15 dent rigid heddle 15.5″ in reed. (The loom says 16″ weaving width, but there is only the capacity in the reed for 15.5″ .
  • Sett on loom: Warp = 15 epi,  weft = 15 ppi
  • Sett after finishing: Warp 16 epi, and weft 16-18 ppi.
  • Color Pattern: Warp =  random pattern.
  • Finished: 3 inch twisted fringe, then washed and dried in machine, then pressed. Measures 78″ long (not including fringe) and 14″ wide, and weighs 135 g. 
  • Yardage:  Total yardage used is approx 1250 y, figured from weight of finished piece and not including loom waste.
  • Note to self, recipient was eventually Camille, although it was intended for Nina.

marigold

Posted on by

2

I have just put together my little Ashford 16-inch rigid heddle loom. It arrived yesterday, and immediately after I rubbed all the wood pieces with butcher block wax, then this morning I assembled it with excitement, as my mind filled with visions as to what beautiful and interesting textiles will be woven on it. There is no denying these rigid heddle looms are addictive and tend to fill as much available space in one’s life as there is ambition to weave on them.

I know, I know, I already have several other looms, but I decided to get this little one anyway, and it really wasn’t at all that expensive. I just wanted a simple small loom to weave simple plain weave scarves only, a modest little destination loom for my modest little dye experiments, natural or commercial dyes, I’m no snob about it.

This first project is cotton dyed with natural marigold flower petals! The remarkable thing about this project is that I used a shortcut to a varied colorway by simply over-dying different shades of neutral tones, all in one dye bath of marigold flower petals. Plain and simple, the way I like to do things. I’ve written detailed dye notes below and stay tuned for a finished weaving coming up in the territory ahead.

♣   Dye Notes ♣

I got back to the dye pot, determined to have an easier time of it, working over all my beginner’s doubt with a fine-tooth comb. I hovered over the instructions nervously, double and triple checked every step before commencing, and yet still I was having to improvise and make adjustments. Scoured, check! Mordanted, check! Dyed, check! One hour devoted to each step, not including the tea over-dye. I was quite exhausted by the end of it all.

I started out with four colors of varying tones and hues of neutral, wrongly assumed I would have four colors over overdyed yarns, and ended up with only two; the grey was a darker shade, but all the others looked almost the same. After all was rinsed and hanging dry on the clothesline, I quick made literal quart sized pot of strong tea of Yorkshire Red, basically a tannin bath, and in went the lightest of the yellow shades which shifted immediately to a rusty brownish orange, absolutely beautiful! Love the way nothing can be predictable, and I am ready to make a panic decision at any moment. Now that all is dried the result is three slightly different shades of marigold, and what I figure is the spectrum of the marigold flower, from yellow to deep gold to greyish yellow green.

  • Yarn: Valley Yarns 10/2 mercerized cotton in colors: Natural (8176), Autumn Blonde (1405), Shell (7503), and Frost Gray (8798).
    • All were scoured together for 1 hour with soda ash.
    • All were mordanted together for 1 hour with Alum Acetate.
    • All were overdyed in same bath with marigold petals, but colors Natural and possibly some of the others were again overdyed in Yorkshire Red tea, for about 6 minutes in the pressure cooker on low pressure, for just a kiss of color to deepen the yellow, which turned to a deeper gold.
    • The marigold overdyed Grey yarn appears a deeper greenish yellow, a wonderful surprise! There must have been a little blue in the grey.
  • What I will do differently next time: I will use distinct different values of neutrals, such as natural or white, light grey, and medium-dark grey. The Natural, Autumn Blonde, and Shell colors may have been different hues very slightly but all the same very light value, so after overdyed and dry, all looked the same, I could not tell the difference — I should have labeled the yarns!

Ikat No. 1

Posted on by

3

This piece is my first attempt at ikat, even though it is only a simple random ikat. I saw a short film on Japanese Kasuri, and wanted to try working with ikat, posted in Knotty. But natural dyeing to me is tricksome, particularly dying cellulose fibers like cotton and linen, and particularly indigo which works in an alkaline solution, which cellulose fibers require. To add, alkalinity is the enemy of wool, which is the only fiber I have significant experience with and possibly the most desire to work colors into. Dying cellulose fibers, such as commercial weaving yarns, involve scouring extremely well, mordanting properly, dying, then neutralizing and rinsing till the cows come home … requiring many chemical ingredients and meticulous measured steps which are very complicated and a lot of work. And if scouring is not done properly a thing happens called “crocking”, where instead of the dye imbedding fully into the yarn, some of it hangs out on the surface ready to rub off on things and ruin them … on to your favorite weaving equipment, on to the clothes worn while weaving, and after being washed the dye gets into the other colors in the weaving itself, which happened to this piece regretfully.

I wish I knew this about the pH issues and limitations before jumping in, and think at this point I need to put the dyes away for while and release myself from self-imposed expectations of dye mastery! I have learned that both commercial dyes and natural dyes have their pros and cons, and I will likely go back to my old favorite reliable powdered Jacquard dye with wools, which are protein fibers, for it needs only a splash of vinegar in the dye bath, a quick scalding, and the dyebath exhausts beautifully if done correctly. Maybe I will again try ikat weaving with wool and Jacquard dyes next.

Going forward, and I have asked myself this: Why spend so much time, money, and resources on the things I am a rank beginner at, while falling behind and not bringing to fruition the things I have a bit of and skill (dare I say talent) with, and really should aspire to become better at? There are a lot of things I want to do, but at this point in my life, I must narrow down the possibilities, eliminating distractions is essential.

♣   Weaving Notes  ♣

There are no technical weaving notes in this post, but I want to document something remarkable I discovered for rigid heddle weaving ! When I was more than halfway through the weaving, and the front cloth beam was getting pretty packed with woven fabric and cardboard I found the cloth beam to have a certain amount of “squish”, the selvedges conforming to the curve of the cloth winding on irregularly, and not really producing a perfectly flat weave. This I assume is one of the things about rigid heddle weaving, the cloth beam builds cloth and as it does the woven cloth distorts in shape, as well as effects the stability of the tension.

I had an idea of propping a piece of wood against the wound cloth on the cloth beam, right at the edge, creating a sort of breast beam setting on top of the wound cloth. I found a piece of board which I had used it for separating the shed wider in backstrap weaving, so I positioned it on the cloth beam so that when I tightened the warp, the tension held it in place, creating a very stabilized and firm straight edge for the weaving, and I found I gained quite a bit of extra space on the weaving too, especially for the temple. The more cloth on the beam, the further back the stabilizing board it sits, creating a longer weaving area in front of the reed! I am going to explore this idea in the future, for I am very excited!

Note to self, recipient was eventually Rosanna.

A natural dye experiment: black oak leaves

Posted on by

16

jenjoycedesign© autumn-black-oak-leaves-dye 5

Going back a few decades in my life and realizing with a bit of surprise that I am caught again in the natural dye thing. Autumn in full swing, the golden yellow leaves falling and then turning quickly dull ochre, I could not resist scooping them up and boiling them into a leaf soup, filling the house with a spicy woody fragrance. I opened my sock yarn drawer and finding a bare Hawthorne ready to be dyed, I grabbed it, and prepared it for its dye bath and let it sink down in the lovely golden rusty liquid, and I knew I was going to find another signature color. But as everything in the kitchen, I do these things on pure instinct with a good splash of impatience in the mix too.

The next morning I lifted the sock yarn out of the leaf soup, as it had stewed overnight, and although the tint was subtle, I washed it in warm suds, rinsed, let dry on the clothes line, and quite pleased, I thought about trying some more! I went out and gathered more leaves, and stuffed all I could into my stock pot, and boiled again for about an hour, the liquid was again golden rusty brown, and so I pulled out about 400 grams of Knit Picks Simply Wool (Wilbur) I had rejected for another project and decided to sacrifice it for the cause, hoping it would transform from dull medium grey/brown to a deep golden hue. Oh, but chaos began to emanate from the kitchen at this point. I strained out the leaves from the pot, certain my five skeins would fit. They didn’t, yet they were already partially dunked. I switched pots, to big cast iron, thinking a little iron would only improve. Even smaller! I began to panic, texted Jeff’s daughter in the tiny house to please let me use her large slow cooker, woke her up, ran down there, and when I brought it back up to meet the occasion, such relief, yes it fit! During all this time there was a power outage, and I had to also switch out the power to generator, and then it came back on and switch it again. By the afternoon I was poking the slow-cooking yarn to see if any of the brown fluid would go into the yarn, like it did with the Hawthorn Bare sock yarn. Um, no such luck, even though I did the right things, splash of white vinegar for the protein fiber and good luck. All day this continued, and determined to see some color, poking, gently lifting and then submerging. Nothing showed over the natural grey, not even the tie yarns showed much. In disbelief I fetched a white skein of Simply Wool I also had left over, and tried my luck ( I had two dye baths going at this point), and the best it got was “off – white” . Still determined, I fetched some unspun roving. A splash more vinegar in the dye bath, probably unnecessary, and put 100g of Targhee Top roving I recently bought in to soak, nearly on my knees praying to the providence. Nothing. Actually, maybe an ever-so-slight tint of color, and I decided to let it stew overnight if maybe something of a miracle could happen. I don’t think there are many miracles in natural dying though.

Thinking about it more technically: The superwash sock yarn worked beautifully, right in front of my eyes, I saw it happen. I repeated the same process with the other fiber, and it failed. Natural dying is nothing like chemical color dying, and I’m finding the only sure thing in this experiment was the type of fiber that made the difference. The minimally processed “Simply Wool” yarn must have natural oils in the yarn ( which I recall bled out in the garment wash at blocking) so perhaps not a good yarn to natural dye with, but also the immaculately clean white targhee top roving failed to absorb the dye, even after soaking over night. Just a slight beige off-white color.

I am referring to my dye process as “easy” because I’m not using any mordants, just a splash of vinegar for the protein wool fibers to open up a bit, definitely nothing toxic or chemical to poison my cooking pans & spoons. Besides, black oak leaves have quite a lot of natural tannic acid, so I figured that I wouldn’t be needing much else. I also would like to add that my choice of dyable material is limited to what I find around outside our house, as I did madrone bark last summer, and I won’t be ordering exotic plant based dyes from elsewhere for I am exploring my micro environment for a very personal seasonal palette. In the next experiment I will not be using five hundred grams of over-confidence, but limit my first tests to one skein of superwash sock yarn, if I am to continue casually dying with gathered natural ingredients I find about the woods here. At least I’ve got one very cheery little skein of golden ochre sock yarn as a souvenir.

A natural dye experiment: part 2

Posted on by

18

jenjoycedesign© dyed1I have been noticing how popular natural dying is at the moment.  I would even say it is undergoing yet another renaissance! So many craft podcasters and yarn dyer tutorials, its hard to resist trying it out.  Yet I have wanted to do this very thing with the indigenous madrone around our house long since before the new dying trend reminded me. In fact, I have wanted to make a colorway of yarn dyed from the materials I find nearby,  and had at one time entertained the dream of being a yarn-dyer on a slightly larger scale. But I realize very sanely that it is best in keeping things within my means, having a very quiet impact on my surroundings. Only so much madrone bark can be shed. It is plentiful outside presently, and being so happy with the results of this “quiet yarn” I am going to go out and collect enough for one more dye pot,  a little more generous amount, and strive for a slightly more saturated affect. I think that the madrone has created perhaps, my personal signature color . . .

jenjoycedesign© madrone dyed

♣  ♣  ♣

The Tech Stuff. . .

In Part-1   Out on a walk I notice the bark is shedding, and can’t help myself to collect some bark, fill the pot loosely a little over half, and set the series in motion.  This is Part 2, where I dye some sock yarn!  My natural dye experiment is all I could have expected or hoped for with the limitations of using only a splash of vinegar and water in a stainless steel stock pot. I am not worried in the least about contaminating my cookware because the abundant madrone peels of bark underfoot everywhere are not toxic or odorous in the least.

Here’s what I did: First I let a half-full pot of peels soak in water for one week, out in the hot summer sun. The water evaporated significantly, and I topped off with the hose when I filled the little bird bath. The color of the water was rich and deep orange-brown, and so very much like the actual bark.

After a week had gone by, I looked in my yarn drawers, and decided that the 100g skein of Knit Picks Felici (75% Superwash Merino, 25% nylon) sock yarn would be perfect. Then I merely lifted the peels of bark out, as I don’t have another large pot to pour into through a sieve, poured a splash of white vinegar in and pushed the skein in dry. The rest is up to temperature, so I simmered slowly for about 40 minutes, the dye exhausted in the water as much as it could, and into the yarn.

The camera never can describe a color as well as words: It is beautiful pale warm shade, just like the varied colors of terra cotta as the madrone leaves everywhere, which honestly has been a favorite nature shade of mine since I can remember. Wet, the color of brick fired clay.   Dry, it is nearly indescribable… a very light clay. Pinker than beige, or more orange. Oh well, the camera is going to have to do the job. Satisfied with the tone and hue of the yarn, I’ve decided to try another dye bath of this now, only foraging a full stock pot of madrone bark (and weighing the bark!) actually simmering it after it has steeped for a week in the sun, before dying, that might be Part 3 (Click first image and see slide show of the process) .

 Please see my post

Tweed Chronicles : Madrone