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Author Topic: Dyeing fleece  (Read 10269 times)

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Dyeing fleece
« on: February 21, 2013, 01:24:49 pm »
So, I now have everything I need to dye the fleece from my 2 GFD lambs.  :excited: Importantly, this includes 3 whole days before OH returns home, which will give me time to clean the lime green, violet and turquoise dye off everything in the kitchen.  ;D

Quick question as to whether it is better to dye raw, washed fleece (it came off the lambs in staples rather than a single piece) or better to card it first and dye the rovings? I will be using the microwave method of dyeing. I'm planning to wet felt the dyed wool. Any thoughts out there folks?
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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2013, 03:21:51 pm »
Oh, don't know much about felting yet.

I spin, and I either stove-top rainbow-dye the raw fleece (very easy, beautiful colours, instructions here) or microwave-dye the finished yarn.

I am planning to play with felting my carding waste from my stove-top rainbow-dyed fibre  :) so please feel free to post instructions and experiences!   :) :eyelashes:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2013, 04:56:12 pm »
Exciting  :thumbsup:
 
I like the microwave dyeing method, or at least dyeing in the oven in my case.  It doesn't tangle the fibres to the same extent as dyepot dyeing.
 
How are you going to be using the dyes?  Mixed all together or sprinkled onto the fibre separately for a variegated look? or will you dye three separate batches then card them all together?  If you were going to spin the fleece then this decision would be vital to your colour definition of the end product.  As you will be felting, you just need to think about how you will continue processing and how you want the colours to look - a la Monet, all fuzzy, or in big bold blocks.
Carded fibre when dyed usually needs to go back through the cards at least once to open the fibres up again and this will affect the colour definition again.
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Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2013, 09:42:57 am »
Thanks Sally and FW. I was planning to dye 3 separate batches then experiment with felting the different colours together. If I need to card again after dyeing anyway, I think I'll dye the raw, washed fleece and card after. This is all new to me! If I produce anything worth looking at, will post later.
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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2013, 10:28:18 am »
Sounds great, looking forward to hearing - and hopefully seeing - how you get on.

And just to add, if you fancied the stovetop rainbow dyeing, the process doesn't mix the fibres at all.  You don't move them around in the dye at all, so they're only disturbed by being put in the pot and being taken out and rinsed.  I didn't have any trouble maintaining lock structure this way.

And for this method, you don't need to wash the raw fleece first, it gets washed in the course of being dyed. So if your start point is unwashed raw fleece, it'll save you a process.  ;)  And in fact, this process works best on fleece which is still greasy - the presence of the grease helps slow the rate of penetration of the dye, which helps to achieve the myriad of colours effect.  If you like your dyed fibre still slightly greasy, then cool the fleece completely in the dyepot; if you prefer your dyed fibre devoid of grease, then remove it from the dyepot when it's still a little warm, when more of the remaining grease is still in suspension in the dye bath.  I guess you could also use more washing up liquid to make sure more of the grease is dispersed, too, if you wanted.

I sound as though I'm trying to convince you to try this method - which isn't my intention, I promise!  I just wanted to be sure I had adequately explained the pros and cons of the method.

Oh, and I have now put some of the pics of some of my dyeing sessions and results up on Ravelry - here

For non-Ravellers, here are two of the 'results' pics:

1.  Rainbow-dyed Teeswater locks and tops, drying.
2.  Yarn spun from our own Charollais cross fleece, rainbow-dyed in two different sessions, with a purple exhaust bath in one session and a green one in the other.  One ply uses the exhaust-dyed fibre, the other the main bath fibres.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2013, 10:32:57 am »
Sally your pics are really interesting. The dye has worked really well.
I must bye one of those airing thing-a- me-jigs
« Last Edit: February 22, 2013, 11:43:04 am by Bionic »
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2013, 10:36:10 am »
Thanks, Sally  :wave: ;D

Yes, my fleece-handling has become way less stressful since I splurged on my super-duper drying rack  :)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2013, 12:50:43 pm »
Well, I'm very pleased with the stove-top rainbow dyeing - thanks for the link Sally. I'm waiting for it to dry so I can see how it looks once carded.




However, am very disappointed with my first foray into felting. I spent ages making something only fit for a hanging basket liner! I've concluded my lustrous GFD wool is way too coarse to produce the little bags and purses I'd envisaged. Perhaps I'll have a go at something more heavy duty, like mats or coasters.



Darnit! When I got our latest Shetland girls (1 black and 1 moorit), I knew I should have bought the white one too, then I'd have something finer to work with (OH insisted I only come back with 2 and even he can count to a total of 7 so I couldn't have snuck it past him!) I will ask in the Marketplace section if anyone has some white or natural fleece suitable for felting. Thanks for the advice all. Inspired by Bionic, I will next have a go with the peg loom and see how the GFD fleece weaves up.


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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2013, 01:05:54 pm »
Oh I'm so pleased to see all those gorgeous colours, Blackbird!   ;D  It's great fun, too, isn't it?  :excited:

Sorry your foray into felting was less successful.  I spent an hour or two with the Fleece with Altitude (Felting) lady at Wool on the Wall last year.  She was making slippers at the time.  She was telling me that fibre for felting needs to be exactly as well-prepped - picked, locks opened and carded - as you would for spinning.  And fleece as good as you'd use for spinning, too. 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2013, 02:02:40 pm »
Your dyeing looks lovely Blackbird. You must be pleased with it  :thumbsup:
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2013, 10:06:27 pm »
I'm very impressed with all these pictures.  It almost tempts me to try some dying.

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2013, 10:05:59 am »
MGM, if you haven't done dyeing before then you must give it a go. It really is rewarding when you see the results and know that you have done it yourself.
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2013, 10:12:24 am »
LOVELY!  And I LOVE the felt!  I have some felt 'blobs' that I have made when leading workshops (I have to do something to demo the stages, but cant really concentrate on my product...) that are too small for anything but have ended up being my most loved coasters.  I would love a set of place mats that look like your beatuful green piece - I especially love that you can still see the crimp and quality of the fibre - that is lost in all my stuff cause I started with merino tops as you do and havnt run out of stock and moved on yet.

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2013, 01:41:50 pm »
Thanks FiB - that's really buoyed me up!  :wave: I'm certainly going to have another go at the felting. The green pieces I made are quite thin with only 2 layers of rovings (I tried to needle felt two pieces together afterwards but they wouldn't "stick") so I will try again with 4 layers of rovings to make something substantial enough for mats/coasters. I'll also spend more time turning and soap-rubbing as I can see that a few of the locks I've dyed have felted very effectively by accident (I must have over-handled it when drying it) so it must be possible to achieve a somewhat finer effect with more effort.
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Greenerlife

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Leafy Surrey
Re: Dyeing fleece
« Reply #14 on: June 06, 2013, 12:29:30 pm »
That stove top wool looks fantastic!   :thumbsup:   I want a go!  Completely forgotten my ravelry passwords, so whilst I am waiting for them to remind me, I can go and do something other than washing my fleeces!  :excited:

 

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