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Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 13 9:36 pm Post subject: Dye
I'd like to dye some wool, a cashmere cardigan, in an inexpensive way (because it's just messing around). Is there some kind of UK Kool-aid equivalent? Dylon is predictable, I am quite happy to risk the finished colour.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 13 9:55 pm Post subject:
What colour do you want to dye it?

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 13 10:05 pm Post subject:
Something other than the barely beige it currently is. I am quite open to colours, although I don't think it should be anything pink. A proper red but not pink.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 13 10:13 pm Post subject:
Any good?

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 13 10:23 pm Post subject:
The pictures don't show up but yes probably, thank you.

Midland Spinner

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 2931
Location: Under a green roof

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 13 11:41 am Post subject:
Food colouring will dye wool - as long as it's for yourself, not for sale. Europe haven't passed it as safe to wear - although they do say it's OK to eat it!

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 13 11:43 am Post subject:
if you like yellow/orange you could use onion skins. need lots though

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 13 6:51 pm Post subject:
i had thought of onion skins. Food colouring! I am going to have a go with all of these on different things. Sometime.

Midland Spinner

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 2931
Location: Under a green roof

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 13 9:52 pm Post subject:
Onion is rather fugitive.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2571
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 13 2:26 am Post subject:

Walnut husks and / or walnut bark give a substantive dark brown dye. No mordant necessary. Will stain your hands and take a long time to wear off too.

Use a dye such as the walnut husks / bark where you could extract the color with hot water, allow to cool, then dye in cold solution rather than run the risk of felting the cardigan.

Cashmere is such a luxurious, expensive fiber I'd play around with the dye on something woolen where it doesn't matter if the results are off kilter, skewed in some way.

tigerella

Joined: 30 Jul 2012
Posts: 102
Location: Bridgend, Wales

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 13 3:23 pm Post subject: daffodil dye

Yesterday I had my first go at making a dye with daffodil petals and am really happy with the golden yellow result. It is certainly cheap if you have access to lots of daffs in need of deadheading, but you would need to mordant the cardigan first to get a strong colour. This means slowly bringing it up to a simmer in water with Alum, a bag of it is not expensive. It astonished me how wool can cope with any temperature so long as it is heated up slowly, but I have never used cashmere ... There are lots of online recipes, but I just wrote about what i did on my blog, where you could see the finished colour if you like www.wooltribulations.blogspot.co.uk

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 13 3:29 pm Post subject:
Welcome, tigerella! Good to hear about your dyeing experiments. Tell us more about yourself in the welcome section. ETA to say: which is here: https://forum.downsizer.net/about314.html

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 13 3:44 pm Post subject:
Welcome indeed, you aren't all that far from me by the looks of it

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 13 5:41 am Post subject:
I bought some acid dyes (on Sally's advice, I think) but I haven't got round to using them yet. The camp I bought them for was too soggy, so I'm planning on a go next week. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 13 9:12 pm Post subject:
Daffodil petals, that's a great idea. I think I will try that. The cashmere cardigan was given to me. I used to buy bags of jeans from a local charity shop, this was going as well because of a thin place on the back. It's not from wear because it's doesn't appear to have been worn. It is a very dull colour and I have nothing to lose by changing that.

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