A couple weeks back with everything in bloom I found myself eager to play around with natural dyes. The downfall to this being that the Angoras are not shorn yet, and am out of other types of roving. I decided to play around with the some of the first skeins I spun. In the spring I made 3 skeins of 100% Mohair despite pure Mohair is not supposed to be garment suitable due to it's inability to have memory. My goal was educational (to spin/feel each type of fiber I got my hands on in its purest form). I entered one of the skeins in Hemlock's Fiber Fest skein competition and it ended up with 5th place, so this skein seemed suitable for experimentation, and the loss wouldn't be that substancial should any oops' happen.
First some morning glories were harvested from the front porch. Torn between using vinegar, salt or Alum as a mordant, the vinegar batch went to red tones and the Alum batch seemed to be brilliant purple. In the end the skein was a muted gray. Not awful, but if I want gray...I'll spin a gray wool. Tumeric was next on the agenda, (no mordant required) tested a couple of Molly's locks and got a very bright yellow, so in went dingy skein #1. Strained excess tumeric granules out and threw the other 2 mohair skeins in a canning jar overnight. Purposely leaving them as skeins it made for a nice natural varigate of yellow to natural where the dye didn't completely saturate the yarn. End result, the overdyed skein was a different shade, Jim liked it, so it will probably get turned into something for him. I took one of the other skeins and went novelty route with yellow glass beads. Concerned of the slippery nature of Mohair and the threads ability to adhere, I am mid process of turning that skein into a headband. I haven't decided what will come of the last skein in regards to beads. That one definitely shows more varigate and am not confident it is appealing enough for someone to purchase via etsy as a skein. Picture above doesn't do justice for the true color, but shows variance of the overdyed skein.
Currently making a batch of pokeberry dye. I am thinking some Merino, Bamboo and Mohair for this project.
First some morning glories were harvested from the front porch. Torn between using vinegar, salt or Alum as a mordant, the vinegar batch went to red tones and the Alum batch seemed to be brilliant purple. In the end the skein was a muted gray. Not awful, but if I want gray...I'll spin a gray wool. Tumeric was next on the agenda, (no mordant required) tested a couple of Molly's locks and got a very bright yellow, so in went dingy skein #1. Strained excess tumeric granules out and threw the other 2 mohair skeins in a canning jar overnight. Purposely leaving them as skeins it made for a nice natural varigate of yellow to natural where the dye didn't completely saturate the yarn. End result, the overdyed skein was a different shade, Jim liked it, so it will probably get turned into something for him. I took one of the other skeins and went novelty route with yellow glass beads. Concerned of the slippery nature of Mohair and the threads ability to adhere, I am mid process of turning that skein into a headband. I haven't decided what will come of the last skein in regards to beads. That one definitely shows more varigate and am not confident it is appealing enough for someone to purchase via etsy as a skein. Picture above doesn't do justice for the true color, but shows variance of the overdyed skein.
Currently making a batch of pokeberry dye. I am thinking some Merino, Bamboo and Mohair for this project.
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