New dyeing experiments

Last week I've been dyeing again. Man, how I love messing around with dyes and colors...it feels like I'm back in preschool, legally creating a big colorful mass! Only this time I took it a step further. Instead of just pouring some nice colors over my fibers, I wanted to follow a plan. Don't get me wrong, spontaneity can be a very good thing when creating stuff (and you can always say: "that turned out just like I wanted to!", even if it didn't...because who knows? :P), but being able to actually work towards a result I imagined beforehand can be very usable sometimes.

I had been thinking about practicing my 'color skills', when I was going through the pictures of my weeks in the Dolomites. If you've ever been there, you might have seen the 'Enrosadira': the stunning sunset that sets the sky - just above the mountainous horizon - on fire in the most beautiful shades of reds and purples. I always take pictures of this phenomenon when I get the chance, so I have quite a lot of them (though they can in no way replace the real thing, you just gotta see it with your own eyes...). But the Dolomite mountains have more to offer! When the sky is clear and cloud free, it can be worth the effort to get up early, so you can observe the sunrise. The mountains slowly become visible, first in icy dark blue colors, while the sky above them turns soft pink until the sun peaks over them. Different colors, but just as stunning as the 'Enrosadira', this so-called 'Alpenglow'.

Suddenly an idea formed in my head: I should try to make two colorways out of these appearances! I opened Photoshop and got busy, ending up with two color schemes full of very challenging colors. I don't think I've got any of them ready to use in a pot, all the shades had to be prepared by mixing several dyes together. I wanted practice? Practice I got ;)

Alpenglow

Enrosadira

I imagined these colorways to work quite well for sock yarn (I can totally see a cozy pair of knitted up socks in these shades!), so I ordered two 100g undyed hanks and set up my dying materials in the garage a couple of days later (annoying my mom who constantly has to step over dye pots...sorry mom!). I started with 'Alpenglow', which turned out to be the easiest colorway. I'm pretty proud of the result!

Nice huh? I really love the different shades of blue! Although I mostly used acid dyes (Jacquard), I also added a touch of blueberry Koolaid, which came out surprisingly vibrant (and smelled lovely among the strong vinegar smell, heheh..).
Next up was 'Enrosadira', which gave me a bit more troubles. In 'Alpenglow', I didn't use any yellows, but in 'Enrosadira' I obviously did. I mean, the band of sky just above the mountains is deep, golden yellow in its purest form! The problem I didn't foresee (but should have, because it's quite logical), is that when you use blue and yellow next to each other, greens will appear. And thát's a color that doesn't appear in the Enrosadira-sky...
Unfortunately, I couldn't prevent some bits of green, unless some over dyeing. Lesson learned: next time be more careful about what colors to use next to each other.

Still, I'm also pretty happy with how the 'Enrosadira' sock yarn turned out. It's darker and deeper compared to 'Alpenglow', just like the actual skies. And I learned a couple of new things about mixing dyes! It's not as hard as I thought, I really expected a lot more 'muddy-ness': that ugly brown color that appears when the colors just flow over in each other, instead of forming nice gradients. I have to stay aware though of the fact that different fibers take up the dyes differently. For my last dyeing experiments I used alpaca, which definitely gives other results!

Both of the yarns went into my shop, because I already have way too much yarn anyway and simply can't knit up anything. (Besides, when it comes to socks, I'm the slowest knitter ever...).
If you're interested, check out 'Alpenglow' here, and 'Enrosadira' here!

So...already having made a mess in the garage (and annoying my mom) anyway, I thought: why not proceed with some roving? A little while ago I ordered a big bag of superwash roving from WorldofWool.com, which was just laying in a corner, pitiful and without any color, screaming to be taken out and join in the coloring fest. Who'd be able to resist? When I made the 'Alpenglow' and 'Enrosadira' colorways, I quickly found out how addicting it is to make these schemes. (Did you know there are also apps for your phone that can do this?! Check out RealColors, ColorView and ColorSchemer for example!). So I made some more, only this time instead of photographs, I decided to use artwork.

Growing older, I'm starting to appreciate artwork more and more. I can spend hours discovering artists, new ones ánd old ones, and marvel over their works. It's one of the great advantages of our digital age, having an endless art museum in my laptop! Sometimes I even feel a kind of hunger for art, like my creative soul is craving food in the form of illustrations and paintings and pretty handmade things. Not necessarily to buy, but just to look at and be inspired by. That probably sounds quite weird, but still I wonder if anyone else recognizes this hunger? It's simply a longing for beauty, that can be such a sweet and soothing thing in this (sometimes so harsh) world.

Okay, before I get too philosophical, I'll tell you what I did. I went to my Pinterest account (one of my favorite places to still the hunger) and picked out a couple of nice artworks, from different artists and in different styles. I made color schemes of the illustrations, just like I did with my photos, and used two of them to dye some roving. Besides having to study the illustrations and their colors more intensely than I would otherwise (which is good practice and feels like a good meal, when it comes to the hunger), I can also show yóu guys some works of my favorite artists and just simply spread the inspiration! My plan is to do this more often, not only with roving or yarn...I'd love to make some rolags and combed blends and maybe (mini) batts as well! And who knows...perhaps also a fiber mix, pre-dyed, ready for you to use for your next project?

For the first roving, I picked an illustration by Victo Ngai called 'Leap'. I was drawn to it in the first place because of the fox (foxes are just plain awesome, like everyone knows), but studying it longer I became impressed by the color use, the smooth curvy lines and the specific structure of the trees.
Victo has a very distinct style, I can totally imagine why she was honored with several medals and awards. Yes, 'she'. Victo sounds like a boy's name, but it's actually a nickname derived from 'Victoria'.  You can check her out at victongai.tumblr.com. Here are some more works by the talented miss Ngai:

The second roving was inspired by an illustration called 'Bike Rider', made by BukuBuku. That's a silly name huh? I tried to find out where it came from, but ended up only with the girl's real name: Silvia. Anyway, she's another talented illustrator who makes very cute and kawaii-y drawings. A completely different style, but one that makes me happy! (And: a fox, again!) If you're up for more, take a look at hellobuku.blogspot.com.

For 'Leap', I could partly use the same colors as I used for 'Alpenglow'. 'Bike Rider' demanded for something else though: yellows, reds, blacks and a bit of soft pink. I think the roving turned out just as happy and cheerful as the drawing itself!

Just like the sock yarns, I put these rovings in my shop. They're both superwash (no felting!) and around 4 ounce. Who's gonna spin up these lovelies into something pretty?!
Click here for 'Leap', and here for 'Bike Rider'.

If there are any artists or artworks you'd like to see processed into colorschemes, rovings or other fibers, please leave a comment! I'm open for suggestions, and always happy to find out about new illustrators and painters.

Oh, before I take off, one last warning: wear a mask when preparing your dyes. I normally do, but thought I could just pour over a teeny tiny bit of powder from one pot into another - I should've known better. I had a little accident (don't ask), and fuchsia colored powder was flowing around. Even though I quickly covered my face and ran away, when I wiped my nose at night, my snot was bright pink (sorry for grossing you out here, let it be a warning :P ).

It's dyeing day!

Last weekend it was time for another Wool Wench workshop! A little less then a year ago I visited Suzy's 'Find your inner yarn hero' day, which was pretty awesome and useful. This September she organized a new creative meet-up with some fellow fiber lovers, to focus on dyeing techniques this time. I did some experimenting with dyeing fibers myself before (mostly using Kool-Aid), but never worked with chemical dyes so far. I always drool over all kinds of pretty fibers, rovings and yarns in the yummiest color combinations you can imagine. Being able to actually create those mysélf would be a creative dream come true!

By the way...I've been thinking about how crazy it sounds when you say 'I'm going to a dyeing workshop today'. C'mon, say it out loud. Get it? There might be plenty of odd sayings that only make sense to fiber lovers, but this must surely be the most macabre one. No worries though, we had a wonderful and 'lively' day together!

Suzy's collection of dyes, ready to be used by us.

Arriving at Suzy's home I was greeted by her 5 year old son, who immediately started showing me his complete collection of superhero lego figures. I was a complete noob when it comes to superheroes, but I'm totally updated now. Chima-characters, Iron man, every possible villain...you name it, I met them all! Actually this little fella entrusted me with the fact that he is turning into the Hulk himself. He already spotted some green patches on the skin of his hands... Good luck with that Suzy!

Soon my bestie Eef and the two other participants arrived as well, and after providing everyone of big cups of coffee, we took place at the kitchen table and Suzy started explaining some stuff about mixing colors, color wheels and color schemes. We all got a big empty piece of paper ahead of us, ready to be practiced on. Everyone took a pencil and started working...we were all super concentrated, it's funny how all color wheels turned out so differently from each other even though we got the same assignment! We could also already experiment a bit with the colors we might want to use later on the roving. This 'try out' beforehand can be quite useful to get a good idea of how specific colors mix up, blend and work together.

The 'easy peasy' dyeing method in sealable plastic bags.

After working on our paper 'inspiration boards' for a little while, it was time to start with the actual dyeing. Suzy had 100 grams of superwash merino roving ready for each one of us, and showed us the easiest way to dye such a piece of fiber: a quick and not-so-messy method using a sealable plastic bag, in which you gently pour your dye. Still a bit scared most of us used some 'safe' color combinations, carefully trying to do exactly as Suzy was telling us. The plastic bags were sealed and put in a pot with hot (but not boiling) water, for the color to set in.

Meanwhile Suzy proceeded to teach us more hand dyeing techniques, in which we also gained a bit more control over the actual process. Slowly we became braver, using more contrasting colors and going a bit more crazy every time. This is actually the fun part of dyeing: going wild, experimenting and trying out new things. You'll almost never really know how it'll turn out! It depends on the dye, the fiber, the heat, the amount of water and vinegar and probably even more things I don't know about (when you think about it, dyeing fibers is totally about chemistry! Chemical reactions happening all over the place...) When dyeing roving, it will be a surprise how it will look when it comes out pot, and then it will be a surprise agáin what it will look like when spun up!

In the pot...keeping it hot!

Most of the participants also took some undyed (homespun) yarn with them. Dyeing finished yarn is in one way pretty much the same as dyeing roving...but on the other hand, the final look is completely different. It just depends on what you're going for! I really liked this part of the day, because I love the look of hand dyed yarns a lot, especially the beautiful gradients they often show. For one of my yarns I really had a 'plan', I even pre-made the color scheme I wanted to use on my inspiration paper. The scheme was based on the beach: sandy colors combined with the different tones of the ocean. Suzy happened to have the perfect colors for this idea and the final result came out just as I hoped. For the other two yarns I just tried things out (although I actually hoped to make a yarn with lots of blank spots in it, I love those! It was way harder than I thought to back down on the dyeing :P). For my 2-ply merino I picked colors I normally wouldn't choose, and this specific yarn was quite a favorite among the final results! Never stick to your safe habits ;)

A basket of rainbows!

Somewhere halfway the day Suzy served us a nice lunch with delightful quiches, while her little 'Hulk' kept on showing us his very best superhero moves, kicks and jumps and told a silly story about a guy who's bum cracked up and who had to pick a new one (huh?!). Plenty of extra amusement for sure!
When the yarns and rovings stayed in the pot long enough, the most fun part of the day began: getting them out of the pot (hot hot hot!), rinse, wash and dry them, and...hang them al together on the drying rack. This rack slowly became a rainbow of colors in Suzy's kitchen, while we were all standing around it, awing like we were looking at a holy grail. One 'ooooh' followed the other 'aaaah', when another finished yarn or roving was added to the rack. Wow!

The drying rack, filled with our results of the day.

I surely learnt a lot about dyeing this day, although I also realize we only focused on one way of coloring yarn and roving, which Suzy simply called 'hand dyeing'. Other methods are for example dip dyeing, kettle dyeing, tie dyeing, etc. There are so many more possibilities to explore! But, today's method is a good basis, it gives the dyer a lot of control over the final results and is not too difficult to execute. Eef and I already made plans on buying ourselves some chemical dyes and organizing some experimental afternoons. I can't wait to try out more color combinations! I had fun naming the yarns I dyed during the workshop, heheh! Glacier Tales, Strawberry Lemonade and A Day at the Beach...you think they're suitable?! I decided to put them in my shop (I'm not able to knit/crochet évery yarn I make...even though I wish I could!). Go take a look if you're interested!

My own results! The 3 yarns on the left are available at my Etsy shop :)

Thank you Suzy for this nice day and for sharing your knowledge with us. I am inspired by al the pretty yarns that are hanging around in your house...it's like walking in a fiber enthusiastic's museum :) Keep up the good work!