Solar Dying Class

Hi Cindy,

The solar dying class went well last Saturday although the day dawned a little cloudy. Not to bad, just enough to be a slight concern. There ended up being just two of us in the class. A third woman had signed up but then had to cancel due to family obligations. The instructor was the same one that's been teaching my spinning classes too. She is from Montreal and has lived in the valley about 10 years. Most of the time you can't hear her accent but occasionally you'll hear oot instead of out.

We used Gaywool dyes for the class. She brought her personal colors and had another instructor's too. We each brought 4 oz. of fiber to dye and then we got an extra piece to try. For the merino mix that you sent me this summer I chose a color called Daisy. I went a little stronger on the dye and it turned out a lovely daffodil color. For the other piece of fiber (also a merino blend) we did two color painting. I chose two colors of hibiscus and mulberry. We used a turkey injector (without the needle portion) for the painting. It worked really well.

We were set up in the parking lot behind the store. We used big flat pans covered with plastic wrap for the single color and than the smaller pans with the plastic lids for the painted fiber. The instructor also used the large plastic bottle for a single color dye for one of the owners of the shop. In her flat pan she used a single color but then sprinkle some of the dye crystals on top to give it a splotchy effect.

Once the colors were placed and the pans covered we had about an hour and a half to kill while the dyes did their work. The pans took about half an hour to really get hot and then about another hour for the dye to really get taken up. If we had had longer the colors would have gotten deeper. (I forgot to take DH's socks along so I bought some yellow variegated cotton and started another MD bib.)



As you can see from the dried pictures the yellow took really well and is a vibrant color. The painted fiber is a bit more muted. I'm seeing more pink in the picture than I can really see when I look at the fiber itself. I am thinking about spinning these and then plying the two colors together. I'm thinking of either crocuses or pansies when I look at these colors together. I spun a tiny bit of the yellow at the end of class Tuesday night. It looked pretty nice.

Any plans for Thanksgiving? I'm taking both Wednesday and Friday off although DH is working those days. His parents are coming down Thursday morning to for dinner and then they'll stay the night. My BIL will probably stay too and we may do a little shopping the next morning. Ikea has free breakfast next Friday so we may try to do that.

More soon, Keep warm, A