Dyeing with colored wools

I have had a wonderful winter in Florida while the West Shore Gals have been getting ready for Rug School. As always they work very hard to make it another great year.
As always at this time of year I am excited to return to beautiful northern Michigan.
I have been sorting through the balance of the wools that I brought with me to dye.
I love using colored wools to change formulas and add another dimension to my dyed pieces. I thought I woulds share some of the ways I use this wool.

I started out with 1 yard of wool. 1/2 was a light grey and 1/2 yard was celery.I used a Prisms#2 formula called Winter's Eve. 1/8 black # 672, 1/8 Turquoise # 478 and 1/16 Magenta #349. I mixed these in a 2 cups of Boiling water with aric small amount of citric acid. Prisms also talks about how you can add more of one of the above dyes. I chose 1/16 turquoise # 478 in another 2 cups of boiling water with citric acid again.

Now ready for dyeing, I put the 1/2 yard of light grey in my presto pot. I poured 1/4 of the total formula from cup one over the cloth. I then poured 1/4 formula from cup number two with only the turquoise over the cloth in other spots. I waited a minute and then turned the wool over in the pot. I waited until the water cleared and then continued to cook the wool for about 15 minutes more.

While the above was cooking I used my electric fry pan and put 1/2 yard of the celery wool in it. laying it out somewhat accordion style to fit the bottom of the pan. I then spotted the wool with the balance of the two dyes. I was not sure I had enough dye to go over the whole piece so after using 1/4 of each cup I added a small amount of water to each. Then continued to cover the wool. This also cooked for 15 minutes after the water cleared.











Even though these two pieces are different they can be used together or separately as a great winter sky or evening sky. The Prisms formulas are a great addition to your dyeing materials and can be used in a number of ways. Not just as they are listed in the books.

Please note that we will be selling wool yardage (both natural, colored, and plaids)
at Rug School. This is great for your wool stash. If you don't want to dye, these wools can be purchased at www.woollytrout.com

Art Fair

This last Saturday our West Shore Ruggers Guild participated at an Art Fair held at the Onekama High School. It was the first time that it was ever held at the school.There was also a Chili Cook Off. The cook off raises money for the local Boy Scouts. The Art Fair raises money for the local Portage Lake Association. It was the biggest and best one I have been to. Our own Jewelee Franklin did a majority of the organizing. Our Guild had decided to participate and share some of our items with the public.

We had hooked mats, penny rugs, proddy flowers, hooked purses, hooked snowmen, woolen snowmen and Santas,lovely Christmas stockings, wool dyed shawls and some jewelery from one of our members. All and all we had a wonderful day, saw lots of friends and sold quite a few items. Couldn't ask for a better day than to spend it with some of our wool sisters.

Winter Blues
Summer is over. A very busy and nice one. So it is now time to get to work and fill my studio shelves back up. If asked what is my leastt favorite color, I would tell you blue. But then I look around and I have blue in most of my rugs and a lot of accents around my house. But that seemed to be one of the colors I was lacking. So I got out the dye pots. I came up with the following formula that I call WINTER BLUES.

In 2 cups of boiling water, I added 1/2 t. national blue #425, 1/16 t. #490 blue, and 1/16 t. #338 red

This will dye over a yard of natural giving you several pieces of dark blue, medium and lighter blues.  I am trying to use more of my recycled wools so also dyed over some lighter grey with some poly fiber  flecks in it and some small checks. The recycled wools may take up a little more dye that the naturals. So the amount of wool you can dye may vary.

In my second batch I changed the formula using 1/4 t. 425, 1/32 490, 1/32 338 and added 1/32 turquoise # 478. I once again used natural, a black and white check, the light grey with the poly fiber and also some camel which which gave it a green/ blue cast.

As I sell wool, I have in the past skipped over many of my recycled wools, because they were odd ball pieces or I am not sure how they will take the dyes. So I am trying to start a new resolution. I will pull those textures and strange pieces off my storage shelves and share with you my formulas and ideas as the fall and winter goes on.


I hope you have a fun, fun time in the dye pots. Don't be afraid to try substitute another dye if you don't have the exact ones that I mention. If you do, you will have made your very own formula.
Not ready to try dyeing your own wool yet? All of the above wools mentioned are available at the http://www.woollytrout.com site. I can also be reached for questions at woollytrout@gmail.com
Come back and see us soon.

Glen Greens

In my continuing to get ready

for Rug School I started dyeing

greens the other day.

I like to use other colors of wool

than natural which I am finding to

be more scarce.

So I turned to the wonderful book

Prisims # 2 by Claire deRoos and Nancy MacLennan. I find this book of 57 straight gradations and 102 transitionals to be a wonderful resource. These women were gracious enough to allow me to post the formula.

Glen (or PR#15)

3/4 yellow # 119 , 1/4 Turquoise # 487 , 1/32 Black # 672 , and 1/32 magenta # 349

I usualy mix this formula with 2 cups boiling water and then add 1/8th citric acid to the bath.

I put 1/4th of the dye solution in a smaller container and then pour 1/2 of that solution in the dye water as it is almost boiling. I add my 1/4 yard of material. Push that under the water

and then slowly add the balance of the dye over the top. I don't stir much but do push the material down and swish it once around during the process. Then wait for the water to clear.

The above formula was poured over 1/4 yd. camel shown on the left hand side and 1/4 yard

of a Pendelton color caused seafoam. A light aqua blue. I still have half the original formula stored in a jar for a future day of dyeing.

The Prisims spots and Prisims 2 books are a wonderful reference for your dye library. They are affordable and are found in most places where rug hooking supplies are found. So grab a book,

get out the dye pots and go for it.

Next week is Rug School so get prepared for picture and share the fun with us.

P.S. last time I posted I gave the wrong number for a red in th formula. It should be #366.

But if you don't have that then try the red you have and just go for it. Life is to short

not to experiment and find out what wonderful things can come out of your dye pot.

What to do with Browns

formula for DARK CHILI.

The outside dark brown in the picture is 1/4 yard of Pendelton rust. A dark brown that is kind of blah on it's own. The Center picture is when I put the formula over a camel. I think the dark brown would look lovely as a background with green, red and oranges over the rust color.The picture does not do it justice. The camel piece reminds me of fall leaves.

DARK CHILI

1/32 spearmint in 1 cup
1/32 388 red in 1 cup Add 1/4 tea. citruc acid to each cup.
1/32 orange in 1 cup

I used a Presto Pot, put in my 1/4 yard of wool. In a wandering style I added
1/3 of the one cup of spearmint. I waited about 7 minutes for the water to almost clear. Then added all of the red. Pour over in spots on the wool. Wait until the water clears again and then add the orange in the same manner.

Next I tried the same formula over the camel. I think that a grey might work well with this formula and give me a good surprise but did not have time to try that day.
So what I am trying to say is experiment with what you have. Put more than one color of wool in your pot and get ready for a great surprise.

Dyeing should be fun and don't be afraid to try. You will have a great basket of wool by the time you get to Rug School.

Dyeing for Rug School

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I have been dyeing for Rug School this week and can't hardly wait. It will soon be upon us and I have been busy doing other things but am ready now to concentrate on getting my stash ready. Everything has been popping and I always needs greens for most of my work. Looking outside gives me lots of inspiration. So here is the latest formula. SEA OF GREEN.

1/4 tea. 728 green

1/32 tea. 119 yellow

1/32 tea. 503 brown These are all Pro Chem dyes

Add all of the above in approx 12 oz. of BCW and add 1/4 tea. citric acid or 1/4 cup vinegar.

In a prosto Pot or pan on the stove I added 1/4 yard of natural wool . I used only 3 oz. (or

1/4th of the formula) and poured over the wool and around it. Swish it in the pan but don't keep

stiring it all the time. Walk away. check back in about 5 minutes.

While you are waiting, mix 1/16 725 forest green in two cups.bw. Add 1/8th tsp. citric acid. After the 5 minutes are up move your wool around and use 1/2 cup of the above 725 to pour over the

spots that don't have much color or where a co ntrast is needed.

Don't stir much just enough to get all the spots covered. Cook in the pot until the water is clear.

The above formula will dye 1 yard or natural.. Or try it over camel.

.

I will try to get back in a few days and we will talk about some of those browns that you have waiting to be dyed but keep wondering why you ever purchased them and what to do with them.

Until then, remember that these dyes are only suggestions. If you have Majic Carpet dyes or

Cushing dyes, they all have colors that are similar. Just use the method and experiment and

above all HAVE FUN.

Dyeing for Rug School

As I talked about in the last Post, I am getting ready for rug school and dyeing for it to come soon! Just a little hooking humor. It is getting so nice outside and I wanted to create some greens to hurry on the good weather. So I created Sea of Green.





























I mixed 1/2 t. 728 green, 1/16 t. yellow 119, and 1/16t. 503 brown ( a green-brown). Mixed in 2 cups water. I used 3 oz. of the mixture over 1/4 yard of natural wool. I put this in a presto pot. Don't stir much. Just get the wool covered. Just push the wool down and swish a few times. Then I used 1/32 grasshopper in 1 cup bw after the first colors had mostly taken up. I then poured the grasshopper in spots over the wool. I just kept moving the natural around to get the grasshoper green in spots all over the wool. Give the dye a minute to set in each spot before moving . If you don't have enough grasshopper or are running out then add a little more water to the grasshopper mixture and continue spotting. This give you different values of the same color over the wool or an abrash.


Play with this and have fun. Not dark enough?, then add more of the original mixture to the pot.

I keep my presto pot at a temp. just under boiling if possible.




In future posts I will be looking at some of those wools that I can't think of what to do with them.

Why did I ever purchase that brown material? And what will I do with it?. So see you soon with some answers.