Saturday, April 18, 2009

More cochineal dyeing



These are the results of dyeing with ground cochineal using a recipe devised by Debbie Bamford which was based on one by Trudi Van Stralen. This recipe called for ground cochineal, which Debbie had supplied me with previously. The recipe called for 10% dye stuff per WOF : 5gms dye to 50 gms of fibre. The fibre used was a 50/50 blend of white silk/merino top, prepared for dyeing by plaiting lightly first in an attempt to prevent felting. The fibre was pre-mordanted in 8% alum and 7% cream of tartar. Stainless steel pot and soft tap water were the other elemnts involved in the dyeing process.
There was a lot of dye left in dye bath. Hard to rinse dye from fibre, so required multiple rinsings. Even ended up not fully rinsing all remaining dye out for fear of felting. However fibre felted anyway. Might be able to use it for novelty yarns....
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EXHAUST DYE BATH #1
---Dyed 50gms kid mohair top in 1st exhaust bath. No pre-mordant used. Water source as above.
Results: Beautiful medium DOS pink. No felting.
Photo shows kid mohair drying it the garden!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Cable yarns






Here's a cable yarn I spun today as part of the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers online spining workshop for spring 2009.
http://www.wsdworkshops.org.uk/
1 ply was created from handpainted BFL top and a silk/merino blend dyed in Lanaset Royal Blue; with the other ply consisting of the same BFL as before and a silk/merino handpainted with Lanaset dyes. Both plies were plied on my Ashford Traditional wheel using the 6.5 ratio at 20 turns per 18'' span approx. Then they were cabled on the 6.5 ratio again following Judith MacKenzie McCuin's instructions to ''throw'' the plies at the wheel orifice -- see Spin Off, Spring 2008, ''Cables: Demystifyig the Mysterious Yarn''.
I am pleased with the results,and curious to see how it will knit up. Also thinking of trying more cabling, this time with cashmere.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Red Dye Workshop




This month Debbie Bamford as part of the UK Online Guild of Weavers, Spinner and Dyers has been running a natural dye workshop using a variety of natural dyes to create a series of red samples of dyed fibes or yarns.
So far I have dyed 3 samples using 2 different recipes for cochineal dyeing.
The first photo shows merino/silk top (50/50 blend) dyed using a recipe adapted by Debbie from Michelle Whipplinger.
The second photo shows a tiny sample of alpaca dyed in the same dye pot as the silk/merio above.
The third photo shows more silk/merino dyed based on a recipe by Gosta Sandberg.
It is interesting to note the different uptake of the dyes on the merino and the silk. The silk is a whole lot paler. My daughter said that the Sandberg sample looks like candy floss!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A New Tapestry





My new tapestry is finally begun! I warped it up on my Mirrix loom some time ago and even wove the header, but then stalled. Today I overcame the big block, which was to create some sort of cartoon. I had thought I could weave it without one, but after a number of unsuccessful attempts finally gave in and pulled out the sheet of paper and sketched. If you look very closely you will see the sketch behind the tapestry warps. You can also see a selection of the ymmy yarns I am using for this piece, as well as the first design ideas in colour.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is dedicated to all my fibre pursuits -- spinning, tapestry weaving, dyeing and knitting. It will show works in progress, finished pieces, fibre destined to become something as of now end unknown, and dreams of fibre art to be created sometime in the future.