Ah yes. The process of dyeing fiber. This is a fun, yet complex process so I’ll try not to bog you down with the little details. This post is NOT a complete step by step guide to dyeing fiber. If that is what you are looking for, I recommend buying or renting the books Teach Yourself Visually Hand-Dyeing or The Yarn Lover’s Guide to Hand Dyeing. Both are excellent resources for the novice and provide some great color ideas. There is also a short video on YouTube explaining the process.
First, there is getting the stuff together. Most of my business stuff is stored in the basement of our building in a storage unit, so this alone is a production at times. But, oh well. I try to bundle the fibers up ahead of time so I can grab them and skip that step when it’s time to dye. They are bundled so there isn’t a huge tangle of fiber during the soaking process.
The next step is putting the fiber into the acid/Synthrapol bath for 45 mins or so.
During this time I am getting the dye ready:
It’s in a box that has been lightly wet down so the acid dye doesn’t fly through the air. It’s pretty toxic so mask, goggles, and long rubber gloves are used throughout the whole process.
Once the soak is done, I can line the plastic food wrap and fiber on my counter and get to work! I dye with small bottles to give more control, though you can also use large empty syringes (without the needle of course) to hand-dye.
After the dyeing is done, I simply roll up the fiber in the plastic food wrap and put it into a streaming pot to steam it for 45 mins.
I let it sit in the plastic wrap for 24 hrs and then I pull it out to resoak in warm water and Synthrapol for a few minutes. Then it goes into a lingerie bag and into the clothes washer to be spun out on the spin cycle (no water). It could be line-dried but fiber looks better when it’s dried quickly and without much agitation. From there, I hang it in my bathroom, much to the joy of my husband and cats who LOVE the smell of wet wool…
But the end result is worth it!
You can also do this routine with yarn. The picture below shows dyeing yarn using a jar method.
The dyed yarn can be quite pretty!
It’s hard work, but I find it to be also very rewarding. I can’t wait to do more!
