Gradient Dyeing - the sequel..

A while back I wrote up my experiences when I tried various methods of gradient dyeing - the most successful was with four beer glasses, did the job but was rather restricted as I could only dye 50 grams of fibre at a time.

Well since then I have been thinking of ways I can dye more and still get that lovely progression in colours.  I have scoured the web for ideas - some people described crawling around on the floor with the fibre laid out in a long length as the way to get the desired effect!  I can't do crawling (or walking for that matter) so that was out.  Another suggested a 'cheat' way of making rolags of carefully graded colours and then spinning - this would most likely give a result similar to Loop's Bullseye Bumps which I have to say I love and if it wasn't so ridiciously expensive to buy from the US I would have several in my stash by now!  It's not that I object to paying the 20% VAT but the admin charges are ludicrous adding upwards of £11 to the overall cost excluding the actual VAT - this would make the cost of a 5ozs bump £40+ postage of £6.40 which makes it £9.26 an ounce (28grams)!

So how does one get the desired long colour changes - well obviously you can lay out the fibre, paint and cook!  Sounds like a recipe............. well I have just tried this

150 grams Merino and Tencel Fibre
25ml of 10:1 dye solution in Turquoise and Yellow

Soak until saturated in a solution of Citric Acid/Water and smidgen of Washing Up Liquid
Lay the wet fibre out, (laid mine out like this) and begin with the darkest shade.

I started with turquoise at a depth of shade one and reduced the amount of dye until I had 2.5ml left - then I did the same with the Yellow, finally I mixed the remaining Turquoise and Yellow together to get a Lime and finished off with this.  Hopefully I shall get a top that begins with a dark tone fading to very pale which then gradually changes to lemon and finally ends up a very pale lime.  We shall see and if I had remembered to take photos throughout the process so could you.  But I forgot in the excitement  of knocking over a tumbler of dye solution............  Fortunately it is all cleaned up now and no permenant damaged was done........................

For my second experiment I am dyeing 100 grams of Merino and Silk with a new to me dye that I bought from Corkwoodonline in Aubergine.

This time I have divided the 100 grams in four (25grams each)
First 25grams I dyed with a solution of 10:1 at DOS 1 (that is 25mil of dye solution)
The Second with 15ml, the third with 7.5ml and the fourth with 2.5ml

When I spin these up I shall divide each into two and spin from dark to light and then 2ply, thus I should have a skein that does what it says on the tin.......................

Top, the dye solution, next with added fibre and the third the cooked fibre in the most brilliant colour - very pleased with this......

The third option that I have considered is to either buy three of four aready dyed merino tops and either blend or spin them in sequence. 

Back in the Auntumn I bought this pack at the World of Wool and I thought that I could card them into one long roving - but then how do I get one long rather than the usual rolags that a drum carder produces - what I need is a commercial carder......................

Everything is now dyed and cooling.................. will have to wait to see how things have turned out!!