What's your dye method? The process of hand dyeing wool, silk, and other natural fibers with professional acid dyes or whatever you prefer!

I must admit that the majority of fibers that I've used for felting thus far has been professionally pre-dyed. I just recently started having an interest in taking the next step to dye most of my own fibers. In the past, I have dyed quite a lot of silk as well as some wool roving. In doing so, I ordinarily use the kettle dyeing method with Cushing's Perfection Dyes, professional acid dyes for wool where you just add white vinegar to the mix. This process of just mixing everything in a large simmering pot has worked very well so far. Recently I have been thinking about switching to Jacquard Acid Dyes as it seems to be a favorite among spinners and other fiber artists. From what I understand, it is also a professional acid dye where you just add vinegar to the mix. I like the ease of this dyeing method and have found it to be difficult to really mess things up in this process. (Although, you do have to be careful with your wool roving because it will felt with too much agitation.) I have used other dyes previously on silk such as Pro MX Reactive Dyes, but there are more steps involved as well as the use of salt and soda ash. The results were good, but I found myself always having to refer to the directions to complete the process which slows down everything. Since I have several jars of this kind of dye left, I may try to use it up eventually. I think that I have spoiled myself though with the "just add vinegar" method of professional acid dyes.

This brings me to my questions for you......... What's your dye method? What type of dye do your prefer? And, do you like to kettle dye or hand paint your roving, or perhaps you have a different method all-together?

I also wanted to share with you this wonderful blog post by Inger (ingermaaike on Etsy). It is a tutorial on how to dye very fine wool. One of my fears with dyeing wool roving is that it will felt in the process because you are applying heat to the fiber. I have had that happen only once that I remember, and it was very frustrating and disappointing. Inger's wonderful blog post details how to dye your delicate wool without having those awful issues of it felting in the process. And, her blog is full of informational posts about feltmaking, spinning, and more.

Also, the image is a screen shot of some of the acid dyes available on Etsy. As you can see, windrose and Maryjanesattic both offer a nice variety of Jacquard Acid Dyes. You can also find professional acid dyes on sites like The Dharma Trading Company and The Bellwether.

Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what dye method you prefer! I learn so much when my readers share their techniques, resources, and personal experiences. I thoroughly enjoy your comments and appreciate them too! Thank you in advance!

Giving the wool a bath . . .

Yesterday was my first attempt at dyeing raw wool locks. I had bought a small half pound bag of Romney wool last weekend at the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival. The packaging said that they had been cleaned so I proceeded with the dyeing. The Cushing dye seemed to take well, but the wool still felt very greasy, and I just didn't know what to do.


I had to call in reinforcements: my fellow FAST members! After carefully wording my question, I posted to our Yahoo group forum for help. I, having never dyed raw wool fibers before, didn't know what was going on. With the help and instruction of many of my fellow fiber artists, I realized that the wool had not been properly cleaned (scoured) before I had dyed it. Although the raw wool had the appearance of being clean (it was very bright and white), it had apparently not been washed using soap; therefore, the lanolin, or grease, had remained in the wool. Eeeek, now what do I do? I had already dyed the wool as it was - grease and all!

Well, my FAST teammates suggested a variety of solutions. All of them had the same principle that I was going to have to soak the wool in some warm soapy water to remove the grease and other dirty residues. Some of my fellow members warned that I would probably lose some color as the lanolin also absorbed it during the dyeing process and would get washed away, but I was okay with that. I just wanted to salvage my wool and be able to felt with it.


After gathering all of FAST's great info, I decided to wash (scour) the wool which is what I should have done before dyeing it in the first place. I tried to be very careful not to agitate the wool while it was soaking or being put in and out of the wash bath. I certainly didn't want it to prematurely felt. After all, I like to felt, but on my own terms and hopefully not by accident!

Well, I think that the dyed wool locks turned out very nicely. They did lose a little bit of color, but I still like their hues. For now, they are laying out to dry. In several day, when I know it is fully dry, I'll try to card some of the wool. Then I hope to felt it into something nice.


I just want to say thanks to the following FAST members for coming to my rescue with your many years of experience: illusionyarns, castleman, tisjewelart, knitspin, cherylavenue, spinningmoonfarm, wooldancer, thepaintedtiger, and camanomade
I apologize if I have left out anyone. Thanks again for your great advice!