Witch's Brew

Today's dye workshop was wonderful. Jeane deCoster of Elemental Affects - an excellent instructor - taught us using Mother Mackenzie's Miracle Dye for protein fiber (wools, silk, alpaca). The early morning math and dye formula session was a bit intimidating, but once we got our hands on the dyes, time just flew.

We started by picking a color and developing a 'formula' from the 9 dye colors to test dye 5 gram samples of yarn. The mason jar dye baths were mixed, cooked and cooled. It was amazing to compare the colors in the jars vs. the color of the finished yarn sample. Several of us were not satisfied with the colors in our first try, and mixed up second test batches that were more to our liking. Next came the actual fiber dyeing; same formula, just in bigger quantities. I used a mix of 50% cyan, 30% magenta and 20% black to get colors that shaded from lavender to blue to deep purple on a previously white fleece. The cooling pot looks pretty gross (the magenta doesn't 'exhaust' completely; most of the other dye colors are absorbed into the fiber, leaving the water clear.) I'm really pleased with the colors I got.

I also dyed some BFL roving, using a 50% cyan/ 50% orange solution that yielded a boring gray. Nice, but nothing special. Jeane 'doctored' the pot with blue and violet to get an almost denim blue. I'll try to get a photo of it in the sunlight tomorrow. Jeane is teaching a dye workshop for the guild later this year. Can't wait to learn more!