I enjoy dyeing unspun animal fibers in a crock pot for a couple of reasons: It's easy and takes very little pot-watching to achieve spectacular results. Plus, I like to dye the unspun fiber because it's then such a blast to spin and watch the different colors develop. Plying is even more interesting, as the colors work upon each other.
Here then is a short demonstration of the two kinds of dyeing - space-dyeing and rainbow dyeing - I do in a crock pot.
Materials Needed
The same basic materials are needed for both types of dyeing:
A crock pot, one that will not be used for human food again - I found mine at yard sales for about $2 apiece. For the demo, I've used non-toxic, food-related dyes, but the same principles of dyeing apply when using acid or other kinds of chemical dyes, and you do not want to use any utensil that's been used with chemical dyes for human food.
White vinegar, needed for Easter egg dye, and for the acid dyes. White vinegar is the cheapest and easiest to obtain acid fixative available; you can purchase it at your local grocery store. Kool-Aid is supposed to have enough acid content to set the dye, but I've found that using additional vinegar will make the colors last longer.
Fiber - clean roving or top. This demonstration shows how to dye animal, or protein, fibers only. Vegetable fibers, such as cotton, use a different process, with which I am not familiar. I prefer the softer wools, such as merino, corriedale and targhee. I haven't experimented with mohair, angora, the camelids or silk, but I would thing that the process would also yield interesting results.
Dyestuff - acid dyes for wool and other protein fibers. The chemical acid dyes, alone or in combination, will give many colors and are most economical for large batches. Batch size in a crock pot is limited anyway, so the use of Kool-Aid, Easter egg dye, or food coloring, is not prohibitive. For purposes of this demonstration, I am using Kool-Aid for rainbow dyeing and Easter egg dye for space-dyeing.
Additional items needed for space-dyeing are pint-size glass jars. Four wide-mouth salad dressing jars fit into my shallow crock pot easily, and the domed lid covers them.
A pair of rubber gloves keeps the dye off your hands and since you are made of animal protein, these dyes will dye your skin as well as fibers.
I'll demonstrate each technique individually up to the point when the dyed materials are to be rinsed and hung up to dry, then I'll show the rinsing process for both.
Let the fun begin!
Go to Space-Dyeing
Go to Rainbow Dyeing
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