Comments on: AARgh! color and dyeing

By: Abby

Abby — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:38:47 +0000

Hey, I was looking for a kettle dying tutorial also and came across this post. It’s on the second page of google results. =)

It’s kind of appauling when people try and give advice like they’re an authority on it when they don’t know what they’re talking about (especially with mixing cooking stuffs with dying stuffs, I don’t dye (yet) and even I know that…).

By: Pam from CT

Pam from CT — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:32:20 +0000

I stumbled on this looking for a tutorial on kettle dyeing. I totally agree with your comments about the safety issue not being stressed on the podcast. Omitting this key fact makes me discount the rest of the ‘cast.

By: anet

anet — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:40:46 +0000

there is a great book/primer for folks looking to inform themselves about dyeing which talks a fair amount about the chemistry of dyeing without making your head hurt.
Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers by Linda Knutson
and tho’ i didn’t hear the podcast…using your cook pots for dyeing!? gah!

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 02:45:59 +0000

thank you so much for the CORRECT information cosy. as you know, i am a very new spinner and have yet to embark on the dyeing aspect but i have been looking forward to it. i thought some of the information was very incorrect and i am sure that is because of the things that i have read; a lot of the info i have received from reading your blog, as well as others. dying yarn in your cooking pots. that you use to cook food. that you eat! – that is way scary! thanks again!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:56:14 +0000

Thanks for posting this. I was pretty shocked while listening too. I’ve only ever dyed with food or natural dyes and I still keep it to dye-only pots and utensils. I can’t even imagine dying yarn in my cooking pots!

By: Maggie

Maggie — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:11:07 +0000

AAARGH indeed! We seem to have similar dyeing knowledge and experience and I can’t believe the stuff they’re touting on their podcast! Particularly the colour theory and instructions for muting colours. Using only black or brown dye to mute your colours will give you a very narrow and dull range of effects!

As far as I know, the factors that contribute to uneven dyeing include:
-hot/cool currents in the dyebath
-uneven dilution of acid
-uneven penetration of liquid/mordant during the presoak
-uneven dilution of dye

I agree with your definitions of kettle vs immersion dyeing. In kettle dyeing you add the dye to the fibre, in immersion dyeing you add the fibre to the dye. Within those two main methods there are many techniques.

By: myartfullife

myartfullife — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:55:23 +0000

Well said, cosymakes. It’s unfortunate that there was so much misinformation on that podcast. Not to mention, lack of safety and security measures. Mixing dyes like paint? oh, boy.

By: Bea

Bea — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:46:25 +0000

I with you on all of this. I think the paint thing is totally wrong. I’ve done painting before but mixing a blob of red with a smidge of yellow, is in no way similar to mixing dyes. You can see clearly with paint what color you will get. Its sort of a guess with the dye until you’ve done that combo already.

Safety first is a really good rule of thumb. Why would you want to eat out of the things you’ve dyed in anyway??

I think you are right on the black/brown issue. I hadn’t noticed that its presence in my dye mix really muted anything, it simply made the color darker (like adding black/brown paint).

I kettle dye and that (for me) involves putting room temperature yarn and room temperature water in a pot. Heating the pot to simmering (or just a bit before) and then adding dye in various amounts, depending on what I am looking for the dye to do. Another way to “mute” colors (in a sense) is when and how you use vinegar with acid dyes. The dye tends to float around more (and therefore adhere to more spots in more concentration) when there is no vinegar in the water (yarn water and dye water) as opposed to when there is vinegar and it adheres very quickly (much more concentrated color where the dye is actually applied to the skein.) Leaving out the vinegar in either water spot also can effect how the dye adheres.

All this of course is only based on my experiences and could be caused by the fact that I use water out of my faucets and not theirs.