Skein Painting Using Natural Dyes
at the Table Rock Llamas Fiber Art Studio
We had a fun day on May3, 2006 with Instructor Donna Brown. She showed us how to use natural dyes, how to prepare wool for skein painting and how to skein paint. I think one could stretch this class out to about 6 months and then some to really grab what one is doing. So a little 4 hour class lets you take a glimpse into what is possible and how to do it.
Our wool (Henry's Attic Kona Superwash) was prewashed and mordanted and then pre_wet so that we could dive right in.
Prework at the table, meaning chatting it up, looking at books and fiber samples. See the bunch of little skeins in the foreground? Oh yes, color baby! Basically that hour spent talking dyes was substitute for endless hours washing and mordanting and wetting wool :)
Here we go, our skeins are laid out on the table onto saran wrap, colors mixed up in yoghurt cups. Its real neat if you have a teacher near by who can just tell you which one, how much, hot or cold, yadddayadda or even DOES it for you. One is sure going to miss that when working alone. Unlike the other two students who obviously had something definite in mind and made all their skeins the same coloring, I just wanted to play. You can see my lonely painted skein in the foreground, about to slip off the table :) In that example I had used Gallnut (dark yellow), Brazilwood (brownish red when wet) and Cutch (medium brown when wet). A tiny little space is still natural wool color.
Here you can see the diciplined and organized work of the other two students. Since they had a lot more to paint with one color at a time, there is still a lot more unpainted wool showing. But exciting nonetheless! One has to paint front and then check the back for touchups if the color didn't go all the way through the skein. On the small table she started with Cutch, on the right table she started with Logwood Purple.
Here is my second skein done in two colors only: Cochineal for pink and Fustic for the yellow. Love those colors together, I tried to keep them rather light, not so intense. If you let the colors run together at the meet points it comes out pretty, not muddy!
See the great progress made by the multiple skein painter :) I have no clue which colors she used after the Purple, there were so many of them!
And a view to the other table with the multiple skeins on them. Very pretty!
And an action shot a bit later. In the foreground she is just turning one skein over to check the back of it. In the background she is painting pink with Cochineal. I really love the box of gloves that's on the floor, I do remember knocking that down. But who can bother with picking stuff up when you're so intensely busy with COLOR!!!
This is what it looks like when you wrap and roll up your skein ready for steaming. Its folded like a zigzag, then goes into a plastic bag ( to make sure that my pretty colors don't mix with the other's pretty colors...) and into the steamer. In this skein I used (from left to right) Pomegranate for the yellow, Logwood Purple (very diluted) and Madder (red).
Action shot from the other side of the table. Turning skein and painting. You can see how she dabs the brush with the paint onto the wool to paint it.
Aha, the steaming pot outside on the porch. Big, pot, water boiling in the bottom, wrapped and folded skeins go into the top, not touching the water, just being steamed. This should go on for 30 to 60 minutes. Is my skein in there?
Well yes it is! Notice the layer of newspaper cuddling the plastic bag with the wool. You don't want your plastic to melt to the side of the pot. Also notice the pot holders, need potholder to avoid fingers melting to the hot bag....
More steamed wool in plastic bags. The other two students had all their skeins together and those monster skeins then were too fat to zigzag roll, so they rolled their wool like in a roving cake or cinnamon roll. We later discovered that they had to go back into the steam pot because after unrolling them one could feel that the insides were still cold.
And just to show you that I actually DID take the class and was there, and I definitely make my obligatory terrible face on the picture, here is one that Kris took from the other side. Oh yes, this picture should also proove that you didn't have to be blonde to take this class ;)
Unrolling everything to see what happened. The colors change after steaming, and I am sure the colors will yet again change once the wool is totally dry.
One of the store owners comes to peek what we are doing. This was not the first time mind you, and finally we had something to SHOW to her. Notice that pretty pink stain on the table in the front, I did that, and proud of it :)
I apologize for cutting of people's heads in the pictures and not using names. I was concentrating on taking pictures of the STUFF, not of the people and didn't want to distress anybody by obsessing over taking pictures. Also I don't believe its a good idea to use pictures AND names of people on the internet....
More pictures will follow once my skeins are dry and I get a chance to photograph them in natural light.
I have inserted some links to information sites about the different dye plants/bugs. I chose those more for general info, not necessarily just about their dye stuff qualities.
And here are some links to information on the table rock llama website for the dyes that I used:
Two weeks later.....
After two weeks air dry I washed the long skeins and hung them up outside to dry.
A few hours later...
My first painted wool in a skein and wound up as a ball. The reddish is brazilwood, the darker yellow is cutch and the lighter yellow gallnut. I love those colors together. To think that this is the only ball of wool with these colors in this way in the whole world is mind boggling, isn't it?
This one I have two skeins that are the same, painted at the same time. The yellow is pomegranate, the very light purple is logwood purple extremely diluted to a very faint shade and the orange color is madder. All colors look very bright in the sunlight, they are more muted indoors.
And here the same yarn knit up for what should become a scarf. See the subtle zigzag of red going on? Near solid pooling on the sides and mottled color in the center, quite pretty if I may say so myself, not totally unexpected. I for one love when color pools in blotches and I don't mind if its irregular, of course, it does not upset me the least that this looks very ordery.
And a closeup of the same, each color gets each other color once in a while as "background" which makes for a rather even looking end fabric. The pattern you can find in "Dyeing to Knit" by Elaine Eskesen.
And the last one done in cochineal pink and fustic yellow. The fustic I used some very diluted which is the lighter, almost more pinkish yellow.
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