Stuff I use
I thought I should give you a peek in my kitchen ;) Work in progress & pics coming soon!
First of all: the dye I use. I use Landscape acid dyes for protein based fibers, silk and nylon. I bought three 100 gram jars of the primary colours Chamomile, Salmon Gum and Sky. Any other colours I buy as 10 gram sachets from the lovely Trudy at Borduuratelier Zaturn. My friend sent me ten colours last week for my birthday, so I'm up to quite a collection now :D An overview of all the Landscape dye colours can be found here.
Next: the yarn. Incidentally, the swap on the Rav group came along and I have now three gorgeous pure merino skeins and an alpaca lace skein to dye. I experimented with easter egg dye on cheap sock yarn (wool with a bit of nylon or polyamid). Cheap sock yarn is always a good choice for experimenting. You can invest in more fancy undyed yarn once you feel up to it. Undyed white or offwhite yarn is ofcourse the classic choice for dying. But you can also experiment dying on light grey, beige or even coloured yarn, this will yield some surprising effects! I have a skein of light pink Drops lace yarn in my stash, I'm thinking of overdying it with some plum or red in a tie dye effect.... Can't you just imagine it?
If you want to kettle dye, you need a cooking pot. I found a nice wide pot in a secondhand store to use for kettle dyeing. I recently got a pro tip: use one of those really big professional pots that hold at least six liters of water. This allows plenty of room for the yarn and allows you more control over the dye. Apparently, that is how brands like Wollmeise achieve their spectacular colours... Well, since my kitchen is tiny and my budget too, I'll make do with the amateur pot :) Plenty of effects to try out with that as well. Someday, when I have a big kitchen to match, I'll buy one of those big pots!
Another thing to keep in mind: the pot should ideally be stainless steel or perhaps enamel. Aluminium might react with the dye and form clots.
Other kitchen implements. I found some plastic tongs in the same secondhand store I found my pot. Great, cheap and easy this way :) I picked up a large glass oven dish for free on a facebook group. I use it to soak my yarn in and I can also use it to cook yarn in the microwave. I picked up three cheap sauce containers; those allow me to control where the dye concentrate goes. I allocated my metal half tsp spoon to my dyeing stuff, I figured I could suffer that loss in my cooking.
If you want to hand dye, you need some extra stuff. I bought some cheap brushes for that purpose. I'm thinking of scrounging up some large syringes for more precision work. Those could also be used when kettle dyeing to really control where the dye goes.
Protective gear. I got a box of latex gloves from wholesale, so I can just toss them after dyeing a skein. I also have an old apron I tie on, to protect me from any splashes (which should only happen if you're unpracticed and clumsy ;) ).
First of all: the dye I use. I use Landscape acid dyes for protein based fibers, silk and nylon. I bought three 100 gram jars of the primary colours Chamomile, Salmon Gum and Sky. Any other colours I buy as 10 gram sachets from the lovely Trudy at Borduuratelier Zaturn. My friend sent me ten colours last week for my birthday, so I'm up to quite a collection now :D An overview of all the Landscape dye colours can be found here.
Next: the yarn. Incidentally, the swap on the Rav group came along and I have now three gorgeous pure merino skeins and an alpaca lace skein to dye. I experimented with easter egg dye on cheap sock yarn (wool with a bit of nylon or polyamid). Cheap sock yarn is always a good choice for experimenting. You can invest in more fancy undyed yarn once you feel up to it. Undyed white or offwhite yarn is ofcourse the classic choice for dying. But you can also experiment dying on light grey, beige or even coloured yarn, this will yield some surprising effects! I have a skein of light pink Drops lace yarn in my stash, I'm thinking of overdying it with some plum or red in a tie dye effect.... Can't you just imagine it?
If you want to kettle dye, you need a cooking pot. I found a nice wide pot in a secondhand store to use for kettle dyeing. I recently got a pro tip: use one of those really big professional pots that hold at least six liters of water. This allows plenty of room for the yarn and allows you more control over the dye. Apparently, that is how brands like Wollmeise achieve their spectacular colours... Well, since my kitchen is tiny and my budget too, I'll make do with the amateur pot :) Plenty of effects to try out with that as well. Someday, when I have a big kitchen to match, I'll buy one of those big pots!
Another thing to keep in mind: the pot should ideally be stainless steel or perhaps enamel. Aluminium might react with the dye and form clots.
Other kitchen implements. I found some plastic tongs in the same secondhand store I found my pot. Great, cheap and easy this way :) I picked up a large glass oven dish for free on a facebook group. I use it to soak my yarn in and I can also use it to cook yarn in the microwave. I picked up three cheap sauce containers; those allow me to control where the dye concentrate goes. I allocated my metal half tsp spoon to my dyeing stuff, I figured I could suffer that loss in my cooking.
If you want to hand dye, you need some extra stuff. I bought some cheap brushes for that purpose. I'm thinking of scrounging up some large syringes for more precision work. Those could also be used when kettle dyeing to really control where the dye goes.
Protective gear. I got a box of latex gloves from wholesale, so I can just toss them after dyeing a skein. I also have an old apron I tie on, to protect me from any splashes (which should only happen if you're unpracticed and clumsy ;) ).
Comments
Post a Comment