Dyeing Without Dye

I wanted to name the post "Taming the Uglies" but figured if someone wanted to use the search engine on my blog the best would be what I used.

Most of us have wool we don't particularly care for and wonder why we bought it.  Yet wool can always be changed by over dyeing with dye, marrying wool in a pot with soapy water or sandwiching different colors of wool together, twisting and tying before putting in a pot of soapy water.  I've done all those techniques at one time or another and have posted the results on this blog.  So here are the subjects of today's efforts.

Top left above is a plaid which I have never used as the white is too white. Bottom far right is a pinky red and is a reversible and it is too pink for my taste and would have preferred a more barn red.  Although was sure that would not happen in this experiment.

Was hoping by marrying all them together would soften the white in the top left, bleed out some of the red in the other wool and wanted the green, black and blue to dull the pinky red. 

Basic Instructions:  I presoaked the wool with very warm water with Ivory (no bleach) soap.   The pot of wool was then placed on my range with high heat until it was steaming but NOT boiling.  The temp was turned down low so that it would simmer NOT boil for at least an hour. 

From time to time I'd push and turn the wool in the pot to help release some color.  Slowly the color would get a bit darker.  When I was confident there was no more color to be released put in about half cup of white vinegar as the mordant so the wool would absorb and keep the color.  Again I moved the wool about in the pot and let it simmer about 15 minutes more.  

The pot of wool cooled down on the range with NO heat while I ran my errands.  Then rinsed the wool, spun out the remainder of moisture in  my washer and put in the dryer under low temperature with a couple fluffy towels.  Thought about hanging to dry outside but it was rather cloudy outside.

As one would expect there was no significant change in the dark plaids and just subtle changes in the other.

Above you can see the white was tamed as it did absorb some of the red and dark.  So could see me using that in a pinch for something.  The pinky red did absorb some of the dull of the plaid.  It was a fun experiment to show you who have never dyed wool before.  But in all honesty these need some serious 'intervention' before they will be on my good list line up.  Me thinks one day they will be in a pot with some dye as I've more yardage of both those uglies.

Hope you have a great Wednesday evening.  Now back to work on my Goat.

Saundra

The Wool Marriage Didn't Work

Well, ya have good days and bad days.  Thought that marrying the darks would be a good idea but there weren't very good bleeders in the bunch.  Here is what I started with.  That Dorr #44 green wool isn't this light in person.  But thought it would be good to get some black to bleed and maybe even release some blue to spread around to the other guests in the pot.  Really wanted mottled dark sections in the Dorr.

With some soapy water in a large pot there was over a yard total of various wool you see above.  I brought it to almost bubbling and simmered for quite some time.  Did see some color releasing in the pot but not as much as I'd hoped.

After a well cooked pot of wool I glugged over half cup of white vinegar and let it simmer a little longer.

Seems there was some change made to the wool but not the magnitude I'd hoped.  Oh well, regardless it is all primitive dark and will be used in antique adaptations or other rugs that I hook.

This evening I'm quite content working on my grandson's rug in hopes of accomplishing a little more on the background.  Plus I've still Simple Gifts to bind so just gonna chill before starting my next project. Besides, as Kim says.....I'm always changing my mind who knows what the next project will be.  So true.

Have a great evening; I am totally loving this lower temp, lower humidity and no rain weather.

Saundra

Pots on the Stove ~ Wool and Soup

My first dye experiment had lack luster results,  unfortunately.  These are the wools I started with and had hoped that the blue would bleed well enough to tone down the bright green in the one plaid and that the tan, light grey herringbone and bluish/white would pick up a little of the dye in the process.

The only piece I was pleased with was this blue piece which did accept more of the blue color so kept it.

Then decided to pull out more brighter blue wool, add the same wool with exception of the blue and put them all in a pot together and stew them once again.  Oh, must say that at the last minute threw in a piece of white wool to see if it would grab any color.

Still poor results so these were not very good bleeders for sure.  Yet the grey herringbone did take some color and the tan grabbed a little more too, but nothing to write home about.

Since it was now 2 to 0 in the scoring of wool dying success stories decided to marbleize some wool because I refused to be defeated.  As you can see I had two oranges (looks yellow in the picture but it is lighter orange) a dark green, fuchsia, tan, burgundy and dark red.

Here are the end results of a variety of colors chosen...... this old gal was determined to find bleeding wool somewhere.  The tan accepted some of the reds and on the other side there are hints of green.  The oranges took the green and it looks as tho the green got lighter in some spots as well.

And not crazy about the results of this either and think I should stick to using my regular dye recipes.

However, I did have success making a delicious pot of Turkey Barley Soup!  Nothing better in the chilly weather than to heat up a nice healthy and hearty bowl of soup.  Plus it is a good way to use up leftover turkey.  So I would like to share with you a recipe which I downloaded from Taste of Home web site:

Turkey Barley Soup
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 T. Vegetable Oil
9 cups turkey broth
2 cups cubed cooked turkey
1/2 cup medium pearl barley
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

In a 3 quart saucepan saute carrots, mushrooms, celery and onion in oil for 20 minutes or until tender.  Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 50 - 60 minutes.  Discard bay leaves before serving.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your weekend and please be kind to one another.

Saundra