Finally in the Dye Pot on Off the Wall Friday

 Yes, I did it.  I gathered enough courage to make the dive into the wool dye pots.  You wouldn't think it would be such a big deal since I've been dyeing my own cotton fabric for the last 15 years.  But dyeing wool and dyeing cotton are two totally different things.  One thing is the same though, there is no set way of doing it.  Just like when I did the research on cotton, everyone seemed to do it a bit different.  There were a lot of YOU HAVE TO'S and NEVER DO'S but what there wasn't was a standardized procedure on how to dye a piece of wool.

What finally got me going was I wanted a nice royal blue for Santa's vest and I didn't have it in my small stash of wool.  Luckily, I had bought a set of Cushing Dyes complete with swatches on Facebook Rug Hooking Buy/Sell group.  I love this set  - complete with wooden cigar box.

Out of the 94 colors, I chose "Blue" ...I know right? ...brilliant!

I also chose a nearly white piece of wool with a tiny light grey strip running through it.  I kind of arbitrarily chose it, but actually in the end it was a good choice.

The textured wool and the 94 swatches!

After the many wool dyeing tutorials I watch, I took what they all had in common and did that!

1. Soaked the wool with some kind of  humectant..some people use dish soap, some use Synthrapol, some use vinegar.  I had Synthrapol so I just used a splash of that.  I soaked it for about an hour while I gathered my other stuff.

2. Cut a fat quarter of wool.  Measured a 1/4 teaspoon of dye into a cup of filtered water. Gathered all utensils I needed and would forever be designated to wool dyeing. Honestly there is no set measurement for how much dye you use ...mostly people just guess.

3. Filled the dye pot to 3/4 full of filtered water.  Heated the water to just below boiling ...so I kept it around 170 degrees.  I used my new vintage enamel pot since with the white it's easy to see the dye water.  Don't use aluminum pots.

4. Put the fabric and the dye into the water...let simmer for about 15 minutes...put in a big splash of
vinegar in with it, to set the dye...let that simmer for about 15 more minutes making sure the wool didn't get too dark.  Once I was sure it was the right color, I took it out. (everyone does it different but basically it all involves hot water, vinegar and wool for various amounts of time and dye)

5. Rinsed it in warm water cooling gradually to cold.  At this point really no dye was bleeding out of it.

6.  There was still plenty of dye in the pot and I could have dyed more (which I should have but didn't think of ).  Really, I probably only needed 1/8th of a teaspoon of dye for the fat quarter.  

7. I spun the dye in a salad spinner and gave it a finally fluff in the dryer.

For the record, it was much faster and easier than low immersion dyeing of cotton.  But of course I was only doing 1 fat quarter as opposed to me doing 24 fat quarters at a time.   The thing about dyeing for rug hooking is that for the most part you are doing small amounts and can dye up what you need as you need it.   That is totally different than how most quilters do it.   I am VERY happy with the results because it's just the color I needed. 

And speaking of that...on this week's....

Rug Watch

Santa has now gained a vest!  Yes, there is the hand dyed blue vest.  While hooking I realized that I had inadvertently chosen a textured wool which not only gave it a slight little change where the gray was in it, but also gave it a more "nubby" loop perfectly suited for his vest.  The wool is a bit more fragile especially since it's only 1/8th wide but it hooks up lovely! 

I also used yarn for the first time.  I meant to watch some tutorials on that but didn't get that far, so I decided to wing it.  I love it!  It's even more nubby than the textured wool,  It's not hard at hook,  

I've really been enjoying doing this project and I like how Santa is looking a little more filled out!

So What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

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Hand Dye Marathon - Off The Wall Friday

Summers are made for Dyeing - hand dyeing that is!!   So I decided to take the long holiday weekend and do four straight days of hand dyeing.  Why 4 straight days?  Because for me to hand dye, I have to shlepp out all my dyeing paraphernalia  out of the closet, put away all projects in my studio, clutter up my kitchen AND have some major time to get it all done!  Its better just to prioritize it and do it all at once.  And that's exactly what I did.  To the tune of 33 yards!!

It was an exhausting, colorful 4 days!!  I had a plan - 1 day of gradations of 4, 1 day of more gradations plus red solo cup improv dyeing, 1 day of just red solo cup dyeing and 1 day of thicken dye surface design.  Sighhhhhhhhhhh but as usual things didn't go quite the way I planned!

On Day 3, I tried a new method of Red Solo Cup dyeing putting the dye water in and then adding the soda water to it after.  What resulted was a bunch of VERY dark fat quarters.   Now don't get me wrong, I'm a equal opportunity hand dyer, but I did need more than a big bunch of dark subtle shades!  So my day of thickened dye was postponed for another round of improv dyeing the right way.

By the end I had literally dyed every piece of pfd cotton (and any other dyeable cotton), I had in the house.  Not to mention, it was all washed 3 times and ironed and neatly put away.  Mission accomplished!!!

I'm super pleased with the results too!   There is a good range of colors plus a really big selections of dark fabrics (really can anybody ever have enough dark-darks????)   I now have enough fabric not only to take to QBL but enough to last me the year.

And as always, if you never dyed before and want an easy, fun tutorial on improv dyeing, I suggest you try my Red Solo Cup Dyeing.  You'll be surprised what great results you can get for such a little investment.

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

The Dyed Days of Summer - Off the Wall Friday

Ohhhh, Baby, its hot outside!!  I mean really hot!!  Now I understand that the rest of the country probably doesn't think 90 is all that hot, but when you  live on a Great Lake, its pretty darn hot!  In fact, its probably the only time my well insulated Victorian ever gets above 75 degrees.  And you know why 75 degrees is the magic number for???  Yep!!  Hand Dyeing Fabric!!!

So once my favorite weather Tom Divecchio  said it was going to reach 90 on my day off, well it was a given that out came the hand dyeing stuff.  There have been years that I dyed for three weeks straight and do a ton.  But this year, I noticed that I really didn't need too much.  What I did need is some Red Solo Cup darker pieces.

What is Red Solo Cup Dyeing?  Its my own easy way of dyeing up fat quarter to half yards of fabric in a very relaxed manner.  What I found over the years is that the results are the very definition of

serendipity and are VERY useful in my work.  So many times, I'm looking for just the right mixture of colors for the piece I'm working on.  Not to mention, its really great when people say - OMG - where do you get your gorgeous fabrics?  And I just casually answer - Ohhhh, I made them myself.  In a red solo cup.  And they always give me a funny look.  Hey, Red Solo Cups aren't just for beer!!

So today I started at 8 am, got them batched up so I could do my grocery shopping and take a nap   finish my chores.  Gosh, I forgot how tiring it is.  They mostly came out great.  A couple I was tempted to overdye but another thing I've learned, that most ugly hand dyeds are ugly right up to the moment when its perfect for a piece.

I think I'm going to do another batch of Red Solo Cup dyeing this weekend.  I want to do some folding of the fabric to get some nice lines.  Another thing is that I'm going to make up more colors so I can have variation in the pieces I dye!

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

Hand dyed Fabric Fest - Off the Wall Friday

I'm tired.  When I told my boss that I was going to take 3 days off to dye, she gave me a surprised look.  Now I never get sick of that pun, but I didn't  think I was going to actually die!!   I decided to dye up 36 fat quarters of fabric a day for three days straight.  I'm just finishing up day 2.  You wouldn't think it was that hard of  work but than again who thinks that you have to:

1. Change over your studio to a dye studio
   
2. Take out all the supplies and set them up
3. Cut up 36 fat quarters of fabric
4. Choose the colors & make the color recipes
5.  Measure out the dyes 
6. Batch up all 36 fat quarters
7. Rinse out the fabric
8. Clean Containers & Workspace
9. Wash the fabric 3 times
10. Iron and fold the fabric
11. Repeat all again the next day.

Did I mention I was tired?

But now that I look at the first days work all done, I think WOW it was worth it.  This is the first time I've ever dyed up gradations of muted colors. I got the basic recipes from Linda Johnson's Fabric Dyer's Dictionary.  I don't use her exact procedure to dye, but it was a great help on where to begin to get the colors I needed for my upcoming quilt week at Quilting by the Lake.  Looking over the fabric, I've fallen in love with the palette.  It makes me more excited to go!

Something new this year was I weighed out my dye.  My husband bought a nice little digital stainless steel scale and it worked perfectly for dyeing.  I needed 14.5 grams of dye for every yard.    It made it that much easier to keep the proportions of each color accurate in a dye mixture.   For the most part the colors came out
the way they were suppose to.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish up today's batch of 36 and also do some red solo cup dyeing of the palette. It should be way more random and unpredictable.   Plus if I get some time, I want to do some t-shirts to take with me.  Don't you love when people ask you where did you get your shirt and you say, "Oh I dyed it myself!"  They think you're so artsy!!

One thing I'm really grateful for is my idea to do my dyeing in red solo cups instead of plastic baggies.  This is the 4th year using them and they are still holding up like new.  They are easy to clean, easy to store and you can dye up to a half yard of fabric in them.  Plus, they  give me the nice mottled look I like in my fabric.

Ooops - gotta go - time to put in the soda ash!!


So What have been up to creatively?

Busy! Busy ! Busy! Off the Wall Friday

Since my machine is in the shop getting its yearly check-up, you're probably wondering what  an art quilter can  do creatively this week?  Well, apparently  A-Lot!

I decided to take advantage of the break from the hours I've been spending at my machine, to get in some end-of-the season dyeing. I have this pile of white shirts I've been buying on the cheap just waiting for the hot weather to dye.  Now that its September, 90 degree temps are finally here. . .of course!

 Today, I experimented with Red Solo Cup dyeing. . .the shirt version.  They came out a bit muddle - I think it was the extra squishing I did !  I still want to do a bit more with them - but I haven't quite figured out what!  Tomorrow, with an extra day off this week, I'm going to continue with my experiment with thickened dyes.  I've never done it on my own so this should be interesting!

Of course, the fun didn't stop there.  I took time today to go visit my friend Sandy in her air conditioned studio.  She gave me a peak at her Quilt National entry which is fabulous!  (Pretty And Conceptual - which we decided was a good idea for art!). We also finalized plans for the upcoming Open Studio event next month.  Can't Wait!!

 While we chatted I finished up sketches for this month's assignment - Hard and Soft.  This concept isn't new to me.  In fact, its where I started my  art quilt journey.  I love playing with value and Hard/Soft is all about that.  Because of that, I have a clear vision of where this month is going to take me since it will be revisiting the technique that started this obsession.

Can you tell I'm feeling better?  Good Health is such a blessing!

So what have you been up to creatively?

What I Learned Hand Dyeing . . .Off the Wall Friday

So what have I've been up to this week??  Yep - still hand dyeing fabric - at least 30 yds of it!  Yep, you did read that right  - 30 yds - all fat quarters.  Needless to say, I think I've had enough hand dyeing for now. Enough colors, enough dirty dishes, enough rubber gloves  - just enough!

With all of that I did manage to learn a few things that you never read  about in the directions:

 1. Do your set up the night before you dye.  Put out the containers, pick out the colors, cut up the
fabric.  It will make it go a lot faster the next day.

2. Do all the cool colors one day.  All the warm colors another.  It will make rinsing and washing out easier.

3. Wash out all the dirty dye dishes at the end of the day (one dishwasher load should do it!)

4. Red solo cups have proven to be far easier to clean and sturdier dye after dye than plastic bags

5. Even when the fabrics soak in cold water over night, they still need three times through the washer to be thoroughly dye-free

6. Measuring spoons - Marked in big letters (color coded) and attached with a ring makes life a lot easier when dyeing gradations.

7. Following Dharma's directions on dye expectations are really helpful!

8. It doesn't matter how long you leave the dyes sitting in their cups - days, weeks (LOL - yes a week!) - they'll still turn out fine.

9.  Older dyes do indeed come out duller, but still are useful for muted color and over dyeing.

10. The search for a better rubber glove - one that fits right and won't break is still on going and essential.



I still need to try painting with thickened dyes but that will have to wait till later in the summer.  Between cleaning the studio, packing for QSDS and finishing up the dyeing I just wasn't up for anything new.

I will be blogging out my experience at quilt conference next week - so keep an eye out for that!

So what you been up to creatively this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

Spring Cleaning. . . Off The Wall Friday

 

Why is it that things always look worse before they get better?  With QSDS in a week's time, I've taken a break from creating to clean out my studio while I pack.  With a master class, the supply list is pretty simple - just bring everything you need to create your work.  Okey-Dokey - No problem.

As I'm cleaning - I am doing a bunch of dyeing.  I got some really pretty colors from Dharma Trading  as a Christmas gift from my sister and my husband assures me that the roll of pfd that I asked for my birthday (Saturday) is on the way!

Still looking at my hand dyed stash (and this isn't all of it  - I assure you - just what I keep on hand in my studio) -it got me thinking - do I really need to dye up some new colors?  Well aduh!  Of course I do!  I did red solo dyeing (multiple colors) and 8-gradation dyeing (the warm colors)  this week and that will help a bit. But I am going to keep it up till I leave.  Its just so much easier to do it while you have everything out!

Ohhh and a word about Dharma Trading Co.  The last few times I've gotten my dyes at Pro-Chem because I live here in PA and they're in Massachusetts.  Their shipping is figured on weight and location so you'd think it would cheaper right?  No!  Dharma's shipping was half the cost. . . plus they had more colors available.  So that worked out nicely!

Anyways - nothing exciting here - just dyeing to clean I guess - grin!

So what have you been up to creatively?

Red Solo Cup Dye Day - Off the Wall Friday

Spring is a time for renewal around the Sayre's house.  After reading Carol Sutherland's post on dyeing with old dyes, I thought it was a good time to clean out my stash.  Red Solo Cup Dyeing is perfect for this 'cause you can take all your left over dyes and throw them together to make some totally unexpected.







Boy, was I not disappointed. The results were great.  I always worry a little because I only dye a few times a year that I'll somehow screw it up.  True, I did have to read my own tutorial to remember how to do it - Menofog - but its so easy - you can't really screw it up.

Aren't they pretty??  I still might take some of my older dyes and do some red solo cup dyeing for lighter colors.  I mean doesn't everybody's stash need more lights and darks??

Ohh and ya, I did manage to get my April assignment quilted.  I don't know if I really like it but I did enjoy the journey on the mystery tour!  This month, Elizabeth is taking us outside -Doesn't she know I have Allergies??

So what have you been up to creatively?

Dyeing with Chino and Bosenberry - Off the Wall Friday

The temperatures hit the mid 90's here on Lake Erie, so you know what that means.  Yep -  you guessed it - a little hand dyeing!   I took a  break from the fall quilt (which is almost, almost done!) to take advantage of the humid temps since tomorrow the high is only going to be in the upper 50's.  Sighhh - life on a great lake! (Not to mention I will NOT subject you to another blog post on that quilt - grin)

The colors of the day were Chino, Storm Grey, Boysenberry, Violet and Chartreuse.  I've decided that I'm going to have to start setting up some rules when I pick hand dyeing colors.  I'm not allowed to do any dyeing unless I do at least one neutral - one dark and one light.  This is the same rule I had when I shopped for commercial quilt fabric.  I mean if you don't buy one neutral - one dark and one light - you end up with a stash of medium fabrics which is very pretty but not very practical.


Luckily, all my fabric was ready.  I had scoured up my Joanne Fabrics finds and cut up the left over Arrowmont pfd Test Fabrics - got out the red solo cups and got after it!  After listening to Elizabeth Barton's lecture on safety in mixing dyes, I now do it on my open air wrap around porch.  But gosh it was sure easier when she did the mixing for me!!   I tried to do the math before hand so I would mix only what I was using and came pretty darn close.

What I forgot was to don my gloves before mixing.  Ugh!!  Didn't remember till  half way through.  Now normally that wouldn't be such a big deal, right?!  I mean purple fingers will only be a testimony to how artsy I am and make me look more legit as a real artist.  BUT tonight is Teacher night and now everyone will know that I was too dumb to remember my gloves! I'll give them a good lemon soak but I'm not holding out too much hope!

So the results are in 

• The chino gradations are marvelous - so glad I did half yds - too funny that its on the $2 yd yellow fabric from Joann's
• Boysenberry is gorgeous raspberry hot pink - super pretty!
• Storm grey gradations came out great too - finally a grey that is just my idea of grey!
• The Violet needs some work - I'm still getting blues and purples and not a nice solid Violet
• The Chartreuse isn't really chartreuse - it came out really - really green so I'm going to have to try out those again.

So what have you been up to creatively?

Economics of Quilting - Off the Wall Friday

Well I was very productive this week - I spent it quilting a few hours each day on the fall piece.  Its amazing how much  the quilting line to it adds to the overall look.  Mr.  Sayre even said, "Ohhh yeahh - that does look better with the quilting in it."  So there ya go - I guess now we know why we work in fabric rather than paint!

I am enjoying using the poly thread through out.  This is the first time I'm using my stash of Metro embroidery thread and its working out well.  They have a wide range of colors and I got it on sale dirt cheap (I mean 68 cents for a 1000 m spool  cheapie!!!)  I'm also using some polyneon from madeira which is gorgeous to work with  but pricey.  I'm really happy to be switching over from the rayon to the poly's - it just seems to be quilting up nicer!

Speaking of the price of making a quilt - I started a thread this week on the quiltart mail list about the price of pfd (prepared for dyeing) cotton. It all started with me browsing in Joann's and then doing some experiment dyeing on sale fabrics I found there on clearance.  Plus  I've been wondering what is the cheapest route to go about getting pfd cotton since normally I can't find it locally.  Here are some things that I learned from the discussion:

• Kona cotton is a registered trademark from Kaufman's and the Kona sold in Joann's is the same as the Kona sold in your quilt shop (as per Robert Kaufman's) so you could use a 60% off coupon for a bolt of it
• Some (if not all) Joann's sell Pfd Kona but most times you have to look carefully at the bolt end to read that its pfd and not just white 
• A good scour with a bunch of soda ash in your washer will create a nice pfd fabric (I tested this and its true - thanks Sheila!)
• Pimatex has a very tight weave (like a batik) and dyes up wonderfully - but is hard to hand quilt 
• Most brands of pfd are going for $5.50 - $7.50/yd plus shipping in some cases

Also - I got the following quote from Test Fabrics here in Pennsylvania where many art quilters get their pfd - including me.

As always shipping factors into the quote - since  I'm here in PA, my shipping is  $25 for 50 yds.  I like Test Fabrics too because they offer the two thread weights - 419M is has a bit meatier hand while 400 is a bit lighter.  Also they'll roll your fabric which makes it easy to store (rolls fit nicely into a corner of your studio. grin!)

Ohhhh and btw - ProChem Dyes is offering half off shipping for the month for you east coasters.  Wasn't that nice of them?

So that's a bit of the economics behind our art -

What have you been up to Creatively?

Just JoAnne Fabrics - Design Wall Monday

Test Fabric 419M - Scoured Kona Cotton

One thing I've learned after 20 years of quilting, is that you never know what you're going to find at JoAnn's Fabrics.  Friday, I had an hour to kill so I started exploring their red tagged clearance rack.  With all the bolts at 50% off - I thought - What the Heck!  And gosh - I wasn't disappointed!  I found  a nice linen  cotton blend,a white cotton with a light texture to it,  a bolt of light yellow cotton, a cool textured rayon with a nice hand and this really great burnt knit.  Now I know what you're saying -
"Nina - what are you going to do with all of that?"  Well dye it of course!

With PFD (prepared for dyeing) getting more and more expensive (plus shipping since I can't get it locally), I thought I would scour these fabrics and see how well they take dye.  I ran them through two hot wash cycles of the wash using a non additive detergent and Soda Ash. Then I mixed up some pretty purplish magenta dye concentrate (Grape/with a bit of fushia) and dyed fat quarters in my red solo cups.  I also added a piece of Test Fabrics 419M (mercerized) fabric and scoured Kona cotton (also from Joann's) to see how they compared. 

Here are the results:

 

1. Test Fabric 419M
2. Kona Cotton Scoured by Me
3. Rayon
4. Linen/ cotton 
5. Cotton 
6. Yellow Cotton ($2/yd!)

So as you can see - there wasn't a difference between the Kona and the Test Fabrics - the Rayon dyed up wonderfully.  Just a shade lighter were the linens and cottons.  With that yellow cotton being only $2  - I'm going back for the rest of the bolt.  For an overdyed it came out really nice!  I mean unless you need really saturated blocks of color - it would work well for anything!

Also, I found this  wonderful grey burnt knit.  It has this wonderful textured and layers to it.  Isn't this full of possibilities??

So you're never quite sure what you're going to find at Joann's.  They also had a 15% off your entire order - so I did get a real bargain on all the fabrics.  

And yes - while I was doing all this fun experimenting I did manage to start quilting my fall piece.  I first started doing it with my regular presser foot but soon changed to free motion.  This is the first time I've used Metro's poly thread which worked well as long as I lowered the speed of the needle just a bit.  I used a top stitch needle with sewer's aid.  The spray basting is holding well!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Labor Day - here its raining (big surprise!)

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