Sunday, February 11, 2007


Ibis






This is three balls of sport/DK washable wool, originally cream colored. I used Wilton's Icing dye for the color and while I am happy with the results, I'm finding the icing dye a bit iffy to work with. For one thing, the addition of acid seems to somewhat neutralize red tones and of course if there's no acid, the dye won't adhere to the yarn and you can kiss colorfast goodbye :)



Ibis - wound



Materials

Approximately 5.4 oz Chabotte sport/DK weight washable wool
3/4 tsp Wilton's icing dye - Pink
1/4 tsp Wilton's icing dye - Orange
Few drops Wilton's Icing Dye - Brown
1/2 c white vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Ibis

This was a standard crock pot dye (see link to crock pot dyeing tutorial on the sidebar) except that after the vinegar was added to the dissolved dyes, the color substantially changed and actually looked quite dark. I decided to go with it anyways and find the result quite pleasing - even if it wasn't quite what I was aiming for.



Ibis - swatch




Notes:

This was a very fast dye taking only about an hour to exhaust. I did note a faint solvent scent from the yarn which I assume came from whatever process was used to render the wool machine washable. I suspect (but can't, of course, know) that this contributed to the rapid uptake of the color. The final product ranges in shade from coral to hot pink with bits of medium pink and beige scattered throughout. No current plans for use.

Disposition

Stash

Posted by Robbyn on 02/11 at 10:47 PM

Next entry: Gypsy Rose

Previous entry: Green Tease

Hi Robbyn..nice!! I have been dyeing w/Wilton’s
after much research of its chemical makeup because tho’ I would use a white/ecru yarn - my
colors didn’t always turn out and depending on
the amount of vinegar, sometimes, the dye
‘separated’ into different colors.  Anyway,
following the instructions on the website, after
I wash the wool, I soak in a little vinegar for
about 20 minutes, add yarn to the dyebath I have
heated on high during this 20 mins.  I do add more
water or dye, but then—sprinkle some salt on
the yarn.  It seems that the salt allows more
absorbtion of color into the yarn.  You can at this point add more vinegar since this allows
the dye bath to exhaust faster and raises the
alkaline level of the water. Turn over yarn,
check periodically, oh, and you can turn the
crockpot down to low at this point.

Posted by  on  02/18  at  01:12 PM

Michelle - Thanks very much for your comments!  I am making notes and will try this next time I use the Wilton’s dye :)

This is so much more art than science - but for me, that’s a large part of the fascination and fun!

Posted by Robbyn  on  02/18  at  02:16 PM

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