Saturday, June 13, 2009

Carding and Dyeing Adventures!

So, about a month ago I got 3 whole fleeces from a friend's farm. I've washed them, and this past weekend I mixed up my acid dyes and dyed and carded a bunch!

Carding is SO SLOW. Well, it's not the carding itself, so much as the flicking to get the fiber ready for carding. I borrowed this carder, I need to start saving to buy one. I'm thinking a Schacht or a Duncan.

I hooked it to my BBQ so I could card outside hehe
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before and after
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Playing with Dye
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I did some in the crockpot, and some in aluminum caseroles.
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I love this color!
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There was pink, and blue, and rainbow as well! Fun, but time consuming.

And I'm currently spinning my big Rambouillet batt from MDSW
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J says it looks like drier lint, but I love it anyway!

2 comments:

e rega said...

lovely--are the dyes in the bell jars pasted down powders, or some sort of liquid concentrate?

RedThread said...

The dyes are Jaquard Acid Dye powders, mixed in water. They stay in solution pretty well, and can be mixed to make other colors. The dyes need heat to set, so once the dye is on you put it in the microwave, oven, crockpot, etc.