Just to say Hello I'm new here.

[Tricia]

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to introduce myself to your wonderful site and community. Tell me where you all come from please, are you all in the states or do you have any fibre artists from other countries like me. I am from England. I have a question for some of you, does anyone hand paint yarn, if so have you got any tips? I love varigated threads you see and they can get quite costly to buy, well, I hope to gt to know you all very soon, do drop me a line and let me know more about you all, I would love to hear from you. Bye for now Tricia

[Anne Marie Desaulniers]

Hi Tricia, My name is Anne Marie and I'm originally from Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). I've been living in Toronto, Ontario for almost 20 years. Sorry, I don't paint yarn, but I understand that it's fairly easy. Just buy some plain cotton or wool yarn and then start playing with either fabric paints or dyes. From what I see, the Procion MX dyes are fabulous, and I'll probably start experimenting with them before the year is out. I've got quite a few pics on my page, so if you check it out, you'll see that I'm a technique and fabric junkie. Welcome to the group. - Anne Marie

[Tricia]

Thanks for the kind welcome Anne Marie,
I certainly will take a look at your site. Sadly I don't remember well enough the dye workshops that I did at college. I know that we created variegated yarns by somehow dangling the yarns in the pots and I know that there is another exciting way to produce random colours by using exhausts and just droping the different colours into the pot but do you think I can remember how it is done. I did try some hand painting but I did it with fabric paints and the yarn went quite stiff. It's also a fiddly old process as you have to make sure that both sides are painted. I do wish I could remember those techniques. Perhaps I will get around to contacting someone at the college sometime and asking them. If any of these techniques sound familiar to you can you let me know, I'd be so grateful. Also can you recall which dyestuffs are those that can be used as an exhaust. My memory gets worse with age. Oh well, i've rambled once again. Thanks for replying Let me know how the Procian dying goes. Regards Tricia

[Anne Marie Desaulniers]

You need to sign up for the "Dying Techniques" group. There some ladies on there that really know their stuff. I'm just a neophyte, looking to get into something more to spend my hard earned money on.

[Neki Rivera]

Hi Tricia
welcome !
i buy most of my yarns in white and dye them according to each project. Usually it's either immersion dye or space dyed. in a nutshell,for space dyed yarns
i lay the skein flat on plastic, squirt dye and wrap the yarn in more plastic. keep them warm for 24 hrs(batching)
and then rinse.
depending on the yarn you'll need to treat the fiber either with a soda as solution or acetic acid.
i would recommend the book dyes and paints by elin noble. she works(worked?) in prochem in the u.s. so she really knows her stuff.

best

neki desu

[Tricia]

Hi Neki
Thanks ever so much for replying, and thanks also for all the useful information. I'll have a look on Amazon for that book that you mentioned. I could do with something. The only book I have is kitchen dyes. I have been doing some natural dyeing this last year. I did have some success with Willow bark as we had a big branch come down and it is a dye and mordant too. I managed to dye some mohair as well as cotton yarn. I also tried using rusty metal and that turns a really lovely silvery colour; on my kid mohair it did anyway. This is also a mordant and dye too.
Trouble is I can't remember how to space dye or what dyes to use for this. This is the same as exhaust dyeing isn't it? I know someone told me that you add various colours and the fibre picks up each seperately or something like that. I will have to do some reading won't I. Thanks again for the info, keep in touch. Tricia

[Neki Rivera]

hi,
space dye is a fancy name for dyeing a skein in parts with different colors :) you can either dip the parts in yogurtsicontainers with dye, or squirt it on the skein laying flat on a surface. basically it's fun dyeing because the clots migrate a bit into each other because of capillarity. so t best to plan the sequence of colors or you can end up with mud! dyes i use procion mx for both cellulose and protein fibers. you have to add acetic acid to proteins and soda ash to cellulose fibers.there are acid dyes for protein fibers, but i want to keep the least dyestuff around.
have you done indigo dyeing?
best,
neki desu

[Tricia]

Hi Neki
No I havent done indigo, I bought some woad seeds last year and if I can find somewhere to plant these I will grow some this year and try to get a nice blue from that, I went to a workshop last year and watched it being done, it was quite amazing to see the colour change when it came in contact with the air. Have you heard of exhaust dyeing?
Regards Tricia

[Neki Rivera]

hi,
exhaust dyeing is lingo :) -good ol' dyeing in which you end up with clear water in the pot. all the dye has exhausted and fixed to the fabric.
best

neki desu

[Tricia]

Hi Neki
Yes it is what you say but am I right in thinking that this is how space dyeing works. I know that there is a system where different colours are put in a pot and you end up with random colours on your yarn, or am I dreaming this up? If you have heard of this can you let me know, thanks Tricia

[Emma Green]

Hi Tricia

Not sure if you've solved this issue or not yet but I think what you are talking about is 'one-pot dying' - try www.ashford.co.nz for some really good instructions. Basically you make up your dyes, put your wool into the pot, add dyes in various places, press wool down, add more wool, more dye, layering as you go. Pop the lid on, bring to boil, simmer for 30 mins max then drain, cool rinse and spread out to dry. I do this with my wool roving, and I use acid/wool dye - I am sure you could contact ashfords here in NZ as they also sell yarn and are pretty helpful. Good luck.

http://www.ashford.co.nz/dyes/dyes-frameset.htm is the link to their instructions.

[Tricia]

Hi Emma,
Thank you so much for the information it is very similar to what I remember. Except that we used yarn. I am looking to have variegated embroidery thread at the end of the process so I will have to use a dye that will work on cotton. I have loads of white cotton and I would like to make it variegated. I have seen all the hand painting instructions but I know when I was at college there was a simpler process and the one on the Ashford site is the nearest I have seen. The only difference is that you don't layer it. What you do is place the yarn in the pot with plenty of room to spare but you do not stir it. you add your dyes in different places and what happens is the dye is taken up by the yarn that is nearest. It doesn't tend to mix. My problem is that I do not remember which dye was used. I know that all the dye is used and the water ends up clear at the end. I think that's why I remember it being called exhaust because there is no dye left. If you know which dye would work in this manner on cotton please can you let me know. Thank you so much for your help, you have given me the recipe which is very close to the one I remember. I will find out how to do it eventually and when I do I will let everyone know. Thanks again Tricia

[Emma Green]

When I started dying wool I was really scared about 'doing it wrong' I wore a mask and measured everything and was generally a bit uptight about the whole thing, now I kind of just guestimate how much dye powder, how much vinegar and so on, I suppose if I needed to duplicate anything exactly I would get into trouble this way, but it is fun! If I was you I would get hold of some dye suitable for cotton (I think there are plenty of posts here on the right kind of dye) and go for it, using the one-pot method ashford's describe - can't wait to see the results!!