Final Color Mix

Here is the final Color Mix batch. It looks much pinker in the photo than in real life. The color is more of a rusty red. It is the recipe for True Red using Madder and Cochineal BUT I used cream of tartar with the mordant* and it shifted the color. A nice trick to know.
I am busy labeling each skein with its own number and number of dips it will get into the Indigo. I will have a final count of the number of skeins I have at the end. I am figuring out the most efficient way to dye this amount of skeins in Indigo and not lose track of how many dips and what the original color is. I have a method and will be letting everyone know how it works.
Last night was the Skagit Valley Weavers Guild meeting with JoAnne Hall finishing up the workshop she gave the guild with a program. The program was pretty much on rug weaving with people bringing a wonderful variety of handwoven rugs to be discussed.
Back to labeling! -Renee
*see glossary

Glowing Yarns

To get my photos to my blog I run them through my i-photo, then Photoshop Elements to tweak them and save them to my desktop in the appropriate size and format for uploading. I give them quick descriptive file names so I can find them easily such as Lac, Madder, etc. This one I just called "glow" because these truly do glow in the light. From left to right is "Deep Orchid" which consists of Lac and Cochineal. In the center is Osage Orange. I will be dipping all of these in Indigo. On the left is "Garret Rose" which consists of Lac and Fustic. After consulting my notes, I realized that I got ahead of myself. The Madder combinations in the previous post used a mordant*of alum with the addition on cream of tartar. These dyebaths just used a mordant of plain alum sulfate. I have one more picture to post of the final dye batch in the Color Mixes category.
Skagit Guild meets tomorrow night so hopefully I will have a few things to post from the meeting as well. Stay tuned! -Renee
*see glossary

Madder Mixtures

Oh boy! The Color Mixture category is officially finished. As I mentioned before, I will be labeling all the skeins in preparation for the Indigo dyeing. It might take a day or two to get the task done and the Indigo set up.
Here are three Madder mixtures. From left to right is Madder and Cutch, Madder and Fustic, and Madder and Cochineal. I have two more color mix dye batches to share. The mordant* is slightly different for the remaining batches. I used alum sulfate with the addition of cream of tartar. It shifted the colors slightly and was interesting to see. I will post them over the next couple of days while I am getting prepped for the Indigo. Colorfully yours, -Renee.
*see glossary

The End is Near...Sort of

I am down to odd batches to try to replicate some of the color recipes in the dye book I am using. From left to right there is Rosy Beige, Old Gold, and Raisin. The Raisin color looks a lot greyer and bluer in the picture. It didn't have the brown caste to it as a previous batch I had done. What I like about the Raisin color is that when you dip it enough times in Indigo it makes the most stunning black. We will see how it does. The Rosy Beige is lovely and the picture here does not do it justice. The Old Gold is a bit oranger than I thought it should be. I am sure I could adjust the amounts to get the color right. Just goes to show you the value of sampling.
The colors in this next photo from left to right are Rouge, Poppy, and Wasabi. I wish the Wasabi came out more true to life than in the photo. It is the prettiest shade of green and uses Osage Orange and Logwood Grey in the mix. The Poppy was a bit too red I thought. To get Poppy I used Madder and Osage Orange. It is a lovely combination though. The Rouge is a lovely color too and I used Quebracho Red and Cochineal to get it.
A note about the Osage Orange. I really debated about using it in this project. It is no longer included in the Earthues kit because it has become so expensive. It isn't as lightfast as other yellows either. I used it because I had it from a previous kit I had purchased. I wanted to see how it interacted. I did do a straight single mix with Osage and it looks a lot like the Quecitron and Weld mix I did in terms of color. It is a lovely shade of yellow. I will be dipping it in Indigo to get (yellow plus blue =...) spruce, or green.
Now for the exciting news, in 20 minutes I will be turning off the final Color Mix category dye pot!!! I will be going on to the final category, Indigo. All of the colors I have dyed over the past 4 months will be dipped to see how they turn out. First I will have to label them so that I will know who is who and how dippy they are. That is, so that I will know what the original color is and how many dips into the Indigo bath it has had.
I am not sure how long it will take me but once all is labeled and the pot going I think it will go pretty fast. We shall see. I still have a few more skeins to post so check in over the next few days! -Renee

Madder and Cochineal

Oh how I wish the camera could accurately portray the colors. These are actually three very distinct shades of a combination of Madder and Cochineal. They are quiet lovely. I got another round of dyeing in today. I do believe that this is the last week I will be dyeing the color mixes. Next week Indigo. The mornings are definitely getting chilly but we are having some beautiful end of the summer days. It isn't quite fall yet but the Equinox is coming. I have several skeins to post so stay tuned. -Renee