An outshoot from my soaping is the craft of wet felting. I wanted to learn how to felt on bar soap, so I took a short class and got hooked, and am really enjoying it.
I've even made soap specifically for felting -- castile is the classic choice because it's very soluble in water, fairly easy on the hands, makes lots of gooey slime that is handy as a lubricant to aid when rubbing the wool. The alkalinity of the soap also "opens up" the wool fibers (just like shampoo bars do on human hair) so the process of felting goes easier. I never thought I'd be looking forward to making a castile type soap, so this is a lesson in the old saying, 'never say "never."'
Anyways, back to my question. I want to be able to dye small quantities of wool. In particular I want to be able to make a blend of various colors on the fiber -- not just a single plain color -- so I've been reading up about "ice dyeing" and similar techniques that give variegated results.
What I find tough is choosing colors of dyes. I know it sounds silly, but choosing colors is overwhelming for me with so many shades to pick from. As a beginner, I want to keep it simple, so the easy answer would be to get the primary colors and maybe the secondaries -- six colors in all.
But I really don't want my fiber to be in the bright primary colors which is what I think I might end up with if I buy primary colors. I know they blend, but the techniques I"m looking at are often using the powdered dye more or less directly on the fiber, which doesn't lend itself to blending.
I really like soft muted shades -- copper, chestnut, sage green, soft blue greens, and such. Can anyone give me some words of wisdom about how to choose colors of dyes that might get me closer to my preferences without buying eleventy-hundred of them and spending all kinds of money?
Also, I see Jacquard acid dyes all over for sale. Are they good dyes to use or do you have any suggestions for a brand that you like better?
I've even made soap specifically for felting -- castile is the classic choice because it's very soluble in water, fairly easy on the hands, makes lots of gooey slime that is handy as a lubricant to aid when rubbing the wool. The alkalinity of the soap also "opens up" the wool fibers (just like shampoo bars do on human hair) so the process of felting goes easier. I never thought I'd be looking forward to making a castile type soap, so this is a lesson in the old saying, 'never say "never."'
Anyways, back to my question. I want to be able to dye small quantities of wool. In particular I want to be able to make a blend of various colors on the fiber -- not just a single plain color -- so I've been reading up about "ice dyeing" and similar techniques that give variegated results.
What I find tough is choosing colors of dyes. I know it sounds silly, but choosing colors is overwhelming for me with so many shades to pick from. As a beginner, I want to keep it simple, so the easy answer would be to get the primary colors and maybe the secondaries -- six colors in all.
But I really don't want my fiber to be in the bright primary colors which is what I think I might end up with if I buy primary colors. I know they blend, but the techniques I"m looking at are often using the powdered dye more or less directly on the fiber, which doesn't lend itself to blending.
I really like soft muted shades -- copper, chestnut, sage green, soft blue greens, and such. Can anyone give me some words of wisdom about how to choose colors of dyes that might get me closer to my preferences without buying eleventy-hundred of them and spending all kinds of money?
Also, I see Jacquard acid dyes all over for sale. Are they good dyes to use or do you have any suggestions for a brand that you like better?