Ombre and Gradient Yarn Dyeing.

July 09, 2016 in Natural Dyes, Textiles

I have seen some beautiful Ombre and gradient dyed yarns around lately so I just had to try to achieve some for myself with natural dyes.

I have tried three different techniques; ball dyed, cake dyed and skein dipping.

Natural beet red powder and Grapeskin extract.

I also had some new dyes to test ( so I have used them from some of the following experiments) , Natural Beet red powder and a liquid Grapeskin extract they were purchased online because I didn't fancy peeling my own grapes!

You can get a great purple and pinks through to a dark magenta.

1. Ball Dyed

Ball dyeing is simply dyeing the yarn as a ball. The dye only penetrates so far into the ball so the result is full colour penetration on the outside of the ball through paler tones to, in some cases the un-dyed wool colour. You can then get tricky and unwind the ball then wind it back up with the inside now on the outside and re-dye so you get a two tone effect. If you need multiple balls of yarn dyed the same you can wind two strands together and they will dye the same.

2. Cake Dyed

Yarn is dyed as a wound cake. Cake dyeing gives you a more random dye effect than the smoother colour transitions achieved with ball dyeing.

3. Skein Dipping

Skein dipping is simply that; dipping the skein so you have a graduation of colour from light to dark.

Cake dyeing, skein dipping and Ball dyed.

I loved the effects I have been getting particularly with the ball dyeing. I see some ombre socks in my near future :-)

Pink!

March 29, 2016 in Natural Dyes, Textiles

In the pursuit of purples and blue using natural dyes I noticed a plant when I was on holidays on the Mid-North coast with dark purple foliage. The plant is used commonly in that neck of the woods in road side plantings on roundabouts and also in home gardens such as my mother in laws.

Although it is an exotic I thought I'd give it a try and see what colours I can get from it so I collected some leaves as well as a small plant to bring home. I have planted the plant in my garden. ( Hope it survives the frosty Canberra winter, although I doubt it!) I have done some experiments with the leaves; here are the results.

Boiled with Alum

The first method I tried with this plant was boiling. The yarns were pre-mordanted with Alum. It started off promising but furious boiling seemed to strip out the pink tones and I was left with a dirty orange colour.

Perhaps more steeping and less furious boiling is the way to go.

Promising start to boiling... the colour changed considerably the longer it boiled.

Final colour after boiling for about 30 minutes.

Solar Dyed with Vinegar

In the height of the Australian summer on days of 35 degrees or more it did not take long to see results from the solar dyeing. I was amazed at the result! Such a vibrant magenta pink after about 3 days in the sun. There still seemed to be pigment in the water when I removed the first skein after 3 days so I put a second skein in and left it for a further 3 days resulting in a paler pink colour.

The yarn in the centre is a second dyeing from the solar dyeing jar.

There are more experiments I'd like to try with these leaves, I need to wait till they grow a bit though! I am still hoping I can push it to more purple tones but only time and experimentation will tell.

Other creative pursuits.

November 17, 2015 in Natural Dyes, Other Artwork, Textiles

I am a firm believer in a creative practice, by this I mean the pursuit of varied creative endeavours each informing and enhancing the other. In my case alongside my exploration of Botanical painting is my love of textiles, and within that another varied practice ranging through experiments with natural dyes, weaving, embroidery also creating and writing original crochet patterns.

The pattern writing came about as a result of having a young man with requests like " Mummy I want a bobcat to cuddle", I found there was no such pattern available so I set about creating my own. I discovered I loved the process of both the crochet and designing and writing the patterns. I also discovered I was able to sell my designs on http://www.ravelry.com/ and so Pinchyfinger Patterns was born.

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kristen-okeeffe

In the last month I have had a little break from painting and have been having fun creating and writing new patterns. It has also been a chance to use some of my naturally dyed yarns.

I have published my coin purse pattern and am currently working on my crocheted Lego man pattern. Pictured below are the prototypes. I made the red one first but I felt that the proportions were not quite right, so I made the green and maroon one, widening the body slightly, he is also made with a bigger hook that's why he's bigger. I really wanted the toy to have movable arms and legs like a real Lego toy, getting the legs right has been a challenge. I will make a few more tweaks before publishing the pattern.

Turmeric dying the yarn for Lego man's head and hands.

The Turmeric dyed yarn is the perfect 'Lego' yellow. I will need to dye up some other colours to make the final toy for photographing for the pattern.