Friday 2 September 2016

Speckle dyeing

I have been playing around with creating some speckle dyed yarns. I use a turkey roaster for a lot of my techniques. I found that the insert eventually lost its coating from the many soaks of citric acid, so I now use one of those aluminum turkey sized disposable pans that you can get at the dollar store. I have to cut off the edges to fit the piece into the roaster, but I have not noticed any problems with my dyeing in an aluminum pan. Eventually they also get pinholes from the citric acid, so throw away and use a new one.

I pre-soak the skeins in water with citric acid (1 tblsp to 2 skeins) and a bit of Synthrapol. Squeeze out and lay in the roaster 2 at a time, then add enough water just to cover the skeins. I have premixed my primary colour (in this case, lilac) and use 2 cups to pour over the skeins, leaving white areas. Then I sprinkle the dye powders (I have the powder in those dollar store salt shakers) very carefully. I have been using 3 different colours. Then I don't touch anything for at least 15 minutes. Wearing heavy duty rubber gloves, I then take the skeins and flip them over, and repeat. After another 10 to 15 minutes, unplug, let cool a bit, and rinse. Here are some skeins that I have done.


What do you think?

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