Sunday, June 25, 2006

Warp update


The warp is finally dyed and dry despite the high humidity over the past few days. And I thought that after the first dyeing that it looked kind of ugly. When I had taken my dyeing class a few years ago, I was told that the dye activator that you need to use when dyeing with fiber reactive dyes will last a long time so you can keep it. I guess that they didn't mean 10 months because after using it and seeing the washed out colours that it produced I mixed up some new stuff and dyed some weft skeins which took the colour beautifully. Another lesson learned the hard way that I can share with you. This is a picture of it before redying. So I took the silk portion of the warp and vat dyed it a darker blue with acid dyes. I like acid dyes so much better than fiber reactive. It's the run off that I really hate with fiber reactive. Although at one time, someone told me that they had a way of dyeing FR without the massive amounts of runoff. But before I could pin her down to show/tell me, she moved away to the wilds of Nova Scotia. If anybody out there has any idea of the method that she was talking about, could you point me in the right direction. I really like some rayon yarns and I like how they look dyed. Thanks.
So I am combining my paler rayon portion with my bluer silk portion and I have another warp of almost the same length that I dyed black last year that I will mix in there too.

My merino scarves are off the loom and two of them are BEAUTIFUL! Pictures pending. The third has some tension issues that I may be able to fix. If not, I may chop it up and sew something with it. I knew that I should have cut it off and retied after the second scarf, but apparently I needed to learn that lesson again. Someday, maybe I'll be able to learn a lesson one time and have the fool thing stick in my porous little brain. But then again, "the change" is just around the corner and from all reports, ones memory deteriorates as the process takes hold. Great. Something to look forward to. My faulty memory getting worse.

I have my first residency (FAA) coming up in two weeks. and then a week after that, I have a second (maybe) residency sponsored by my weaving group and then the following weekend is the highland games where I am suppose to do some sort of a demonstration and then my last residency with my weaving group and then Uncle Sandy comes home and we will spend some time at the lake. My summer in a nut shell. I hope to get a lot of weaving done this summer and have lots of product for Christmas. Merino scarves don't sell all that well in July. Although I have had lots of ohhhs and ahhhs about my shawl.

And I almost forgot about my PEAS! I was at the garden for a few minutes yesterday and the first peas are a couple of days away from being ready to pick! Unfortunately, the weeds are going great guns along with the mosquitos. We have had such cool wet weather that the tomatoes and peppers and basil are not doing so great. They need heat and sun. Two things that have been sadly lacking here in Fredericton.

3 comments:

Leigh said...

<< Someday, maybe I'll be able to learn a lesson one time and have the fool thing stick in my porous little brain.>>

If you ever learn how to do that, please, please share your secret!

I was interested in your comments/question about fiber reactive dyes, but this is out of my realm of experience. However I have a friend who is very knowledgeable. Perhaps she might have an answer.

Mia said...

oh my gosh, those colors are AMAZING!

Fresh peas.. I haven't had those since I was a little kid.. thanks for the memory of eating them straight out of the pods with my grandpa.. :-)

Dudleyspinner said...

Jackie,
I did tie dye t-shirts for a long time. I used soda ash to soak the fabric, spin out the excess,(use gloves) Then I mixed the dyes rather strong using urea that I got from the local farm feed store. Urea is a fertalizer. I always added more urea, making the chemical water strong. If the fabric is almost dry, the dyes soak in. Using more soda ash in the soak and more urea and letting the dyed stuff sit a little longer helps with the runoff. Magenta and turquoise are still going to run a while, just the nature of the dyes I guess.
Try Dharma trading co site for the tie dye method info.
Ta,
Deb