#dye samples

[affreca]

All the dyes (a few are included are in multiple pictures). I'm trying to decide how bad the blue shading is in these due to the overcast. I might take a second set inside.

[roboticchibitan]

Soup (mini edition)

Fire red, pumpkin, golden yellow, pink, and teal! Really enjoy fire red. It's more like. The color of blood rather than the color of fire. Pumpkin would be super pretty on a single ply yarn. Golden yellow is fucking orange to my colorblind ass. Pink needs a higher dye concentration imo and teal is really dark when wet (tho the dye bath did exhaust fully). Will see how it dries.

Overall happy with my little samples, though because I didn't stir them around they took the dye unevenly. I think pumpkin and golden yellow would be fine at 1% intensity if dyed properly but pink I think needs at least 2% dye intensity. I'll experiment more later.

[affreca]

First batch of comparison photos - Blacks, Greys and Browns.

Blacks - Dharma's True Black and Procion's Jet Black are purple based, while Jacquard's Jet Black is a warmer black. Country Classics' Raven is nice, but also did not exhaust even when left to cool overnight.

Greys - These are just the ones that actually look grey. Twilight Grey and Gun Metal will be featured in the blues. Ecru is the most useless dye. I should have saved an undyed sample for comparison, but the Ecru sample is a warmer white than the original fiber. Or you could buy a fiber that's already off white.

Browns - Jacquard Brown is nice brown. Dharma's Tobacco Leaf breaks nicely, reminds me of leaf piles. A few years ago I dyed yarn by stuffing a jar with a skein, filling with water, pouring pre-mixed Tobacco Leaf dye on top and immediately microwaving. Jacquard's Chesnut and Procion's Mahogany are both rich purples.

Note on method - each sample is .5 (0.46-0.54) ounce of local Rambouillet Sliver from R. H. Lindsay dyed with .2 g (~1.5%) of acid dye and vinegar in pint jars in my dye crockpot. The Country Classics dyes already include the acid, so I used 1.3 g of dye per sample. The Kool-Aid also includes the acid (and other stuff), so I used the whole packet per sample. They were heated for 2+ hours. Most were removed as soon as the dye bath was exhausted, but the last batch of the night was usually left in the bath until morning. Samples were spun out, hung dry and then crocheted into cute little bundles. Photos are taken on my porch with cloudy day light.

[affreca]

We have all made yarn soup, but what about wool salad?

I really like my salad spinner for getting water out of my fiber for quicker drying.

[affreca]

A question about dye colors made me realize I don't have a good handle of what I have stashed in the dye drawer. After a full inventory I have acid dyes from four different companies (and one unknown) for a total of 92 dyes (if you count the same name from different companies as different dyes). I think I want samples, and I have 3 pounds of roving for abandoned project...

So here's the first three - Jacquard acid: Brilliant Blue, Sky Blue and Navy.

[affreca]

Dye sampling continues. Over the course of the week I got through the blues and purples. Today was a work from home day, so I could get three batches of reds and pinks dyed. I will take proper comparison photos when I have time in sunlight.

[affreca]

And done. Comparison pics tomorrow. Since the last two pots were the blues that I had previously only dyed 1/4 ounce samples, I was able to do the last pot as the battle of the turquoises (well, minus Country Classics Mountain Aqua which had been dyed early in the day with the other Country Classics). This pot includes (from the top) Jacquard Turquoise, Dharma Caribbean Blue, Procion Wash Fast Acid Turquoise, Paradise Fibers Turquoise and Jacquard's Teal to finish out the five (I guess as control?).

After 2.5 hours of heating (sorry, my temp probe broke last year and I haven't replaced it) only Teal had exhausted itself. After another 2.5 hours of slow cooling, Procion and Dharma had mostly exhausted, just leaving a slight blue to the dye bath. The Jacquard and Paradise versions were still fully blue.

So, the lesson is turquoise is not going to exhaust, and it's a fools game to hope for clear water after using them. I personally had the best luck with the Procion and Dharma (Caribbean). I don't have any of Dharma's True Turquoise, it might be better.

Note - the turquoise dye that was not part of this head to head battle, but that did fully exhaust was the Kool-Aid Mixed Berry.