Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Sprinkle Dyeing - a tutorial - Part 2

Step 3 - the sprinkle: Using a Popsicle stick to tap the side of the cup, I randomly sprinkle the dye over the yarn. Some spots get more, some less. Some colors overlap, so do not. This is when you let your creativity run wild. This is when the unexpected happens. This is just the beginning of fun. You can even do a little dance at this point. I do.
Step 4 - the blend: Again with hot water, I spray the yarn and cover with water. I also add more vinegar. This will allow the dye to run and blend even more. But, some spots stay the original color too. Watch and enjoy. After the desired blending effect is achieved I remove the yarn from the pan of water, ring it out a little, and lay it out on some saran wrap.

Part 3...I'll show the finished product.

5 comments:

Morandia said...

woohoo! I do something similar on roving, but I do it in a crock pot. Guess I'll have to break out the camera and post something similar!

Brianna said...

do you heat set outside of the hot water you spray on it all? i love that you've got this whole dye process i never would have thought of. so fantastic.

Morandia said...

I have yarn soaking now. Mine won't be very exciting though. I have someone who wants Greens.... so... it will all be shades of green. I think I have 5 different shades if I count spruce with is a bit blueish. We'll see how it goes!

Julie the LakeHouse Lady said...

Hey Morandia! Tell me, before you take the yarn out of the water and wring it a little and put on the saran wrap, is the water clear? Do you let the dye exhaust fully? Or doesn't it matter? Or is there too much blending going on to let the dye fully exhaust?

(grin)...thanks for all this GREAT info!!

Morandia said...

Julie, the person you want to ask is Lotus Knits. I do the kettle dyeing - which I try to let exhaust but sometimes I end up with too much dye, and end up throwing in more yarn