Dye garden help?
Ardvark736
, got my mind firmly by the synapse and reminded me that I promised my dear
wife, a dye garden. She and I are into weaving and we had a lot of fun with
the koolaid type as well as commerical dyes.
This year I would like to plant a dye garden and need help. What plants should
I plant in the spring in Des Moines, Iowa? Can anyone direct me to a website
or provide me with some suggestions? I have a large garden with raspberries,
strawberries and horseradish and would like some color and fragrance this year.
I would appreciate your assistance.
ps. my wife has me started on weaving. We were at convergence last summer and
I saw so many people having a lot of fun and I am going to the next and next
and next fully prepared and ready to learn.
Ardvark
If it ain't broke you're not tryin.
L.M. Cunningham
Get hold of a copy of "A Dyer's Garden" by Rita Buchanan, published by
Interweave Press; has everything you could ever want to know.
Linda
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Linda M. Cunningham | Writer, Editor, Knitter, Spinner
http://www.canwine.com/fiber/index.html - Fiber Resources Page
To be updated soon!
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Ardvark736
Now to get the warp on the loom and begin.
.
L. Schimanski
also interested in hearing from anyone who works with alpaca yarns.
penelope margeotes
at the Elann website (www.Elann.com). Hope this helps!
Penelope
marg...@pipeline.com
In article <uURj2.4477$Kg6....@news2.telusplanet.net>, "L. Schimanski"
Spiderwomon
Take the wool you will be dying and soak it in plain water to get it wet.
It will absorb the dye more evenly.
Take a pan which will hold all the wool and fill it with water and then add
the Kool Aid. Two packages will dye about four ounces of wool (which is
like a skein of wool from K Mart). Stir to dissolve. Put pan on stove
burner.
Add the wool to the Kool Aid Mixture and push it down so it all gets covered
with the liquid. Turn on the heat medium high and watch until whisps of
steam rise from the pot (do not bring to a boil). When whisps of steam
appear, turn the burner down to low and let sit at low for about 30 minutes.
The water will become clear and the wool will become colored.
Let cool and remove wool or carefully use tongs to remove wool. If you want
it to be darker, go through the entire process again with the same wool and
the same color Kool Aid.
Rinse wool and let dry. I usually bring mine to the washer and put it on
the spin cycle to get the excess water out then hang out doors or over the
laundry tub.
This works with any clean and washed wool. You can do it with the locks or
with roving or with spun yarn.
Another way to work with the roving or yarn (or even locks I suppose) would
be to get a glass lasagne pan and lay the wool in it, in a snake or "s" type
fashion. Pour in water to soak wool all the way, and then some, but not
much filled over the top of the wool. Then in your head, divide the pan up
into thirds. Use three different packages of Kool Aid in three different
colors. Sprinkle one color on one-third of the wool then one other color in
the center third and then one other color on the other third. I usually
work back and forth from the 9 inch length of the 9x12 pan. You end up with
a skein of wool or strip of roving that is varigated in color. If you use
blue/yellow/red in that order, the blue and yellow will merge and make green
and the yellow and red will merge and make orange: you will get five
colors! I use Mango Punch and Wild Berry Blue and Lemonade.
Put pan into oven at 325 degrees and "bake" for about 20 minutes.
Remove and finish as above.
You can experiment with colors and pans, but use glass only. Make sure you
wool is clean of most of the grease or it will not take the dye very well.
Call me if you need any help or have any questions, or email me. Let me
know how it comes out!
--
Spiderwomon
L. Schimanski wrote in message ...
Prmthreads
tight as possible then sprinkle the different colors of koolaid on top. Cover
with water, this takes several times as the wool will absorb quite a lot of
water. Make sure the wool is covered with water and then put in your water
bath and steam for 45 min. This is great with school children as you can let
several kids concoct their own jar of color. Good luck. Cheryl
s...@gis.net
> several kids concoct their own jar of color. Good luck. Cheryl
Last year we did this with about 70 kindergartners -- safe for small ones
Mixed 2 packages of koolaid with 1 pint of vinegar (acid) red, yellow, blue
Put in spray bottle.
Laid the dry wool (no prewetting because we were blending on the fly) on
saran wrap.
Sprayed wool in what ever blend of color they wanted but only allowed 2 colors
so it wouldn't be too muddy.
Not moving the wool, we volded the saran wrap carefully over the wool making a
flat package about 5x8. Taped it shut then taped it to the window for a week.
They were beautiful on the window.
The next week we made felted wool balls and used the colored wool as the
outside layer.
This year we will probably dye the wool, but not make felt as that was more
time consuming than most of the 5 year olds could handle. I'll come up with
something else
Louise
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Prmthreads
did this in a 1st grade class we ended up felting small balls into eggs and
making nests to put them in. We also made bugs and caterpillers with these
balls. They could easily thread them together and then put floral wire at one
end for antenae. Cheryl
Anglin
Lay the batts between layrs of fabric, roll up like a jelly roll and tie
like a roast. run them through 1 wash cycle in a front loading washing
machine and presto! You have felt! (Use just a little soap.)
To make balls, roll up your ball of wool, place it in a nylon stocking, andd
tie a knot right after it, another ball, another knot, run the entire leg
through the wash as noted above, and you have somewhat lumpy balls that are
still fun and make great pincushions or cat toys.
s...@gis.net wrote in message <76u4ts$3v$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
dru...@nospamrs.straw.com
We have a whole selection of "Kool Aid Dyeing - Collected Wisdom from
the Ashford Spinning List" which we put together as a sort of FAQ on
our site.
If you go to http://www.straw.com/cpy and click on Ashford-USA link
you'll see a link in the left column to "Wisdom" files. There are
others there, too: spinning with children, etc.
Susan
Susan Druding
Straw Into Gold - Crystal Palace Yarns
http://www.straw.com
On Sun, 03 Jan 1999 22:09:30 GMT, "L. Schimanski"
<sent...@telusplanet.net> posted:
>I am looking for instructions for using Koolaid to dye natural yarns. I am
>also interested in hearing from anyone who works with alpaca yarns.
>
:: Susan Druding
:: http://www.straw.com
-- if you want to email me, remove the word 'nospammers' from the address