Spring 2007. Never dyed before? Here's a guide to creating your own handpainted yarn. From the left, hot pour, cold pour, and dip-dye methods. Ever had a desire to create your own variegated yarns? Mix exactly the colors you want on exactly the yarn you want, to create something uniquely your own? You’ve come to the right place. For years I thought it would be too messy, too complicated, and too expensive to dye my own yarns. I was wrong. Below are three common ways to make handpaint yarns; I’ve arranged them in order of difficulty, though none of them are truly hard to do.
Regardless of what method you use, there are some factors to consider. Safety: Using acid dyes developed specifically for dyeing protein fibers can be dangerous. The answer? To dye with food coloring (well, to dye with anything, really, but we’re sticking to food coloring), you need five things: -Yarn. -Colorant. Food colorings dissolved in water and ready to be used as dyes. -An acid. -Water. -Heat. Ready to try something? The Dye Pot. Dyeing Yarn Using Food Coloring. Prepare your yarn as described above in Where to Begin.
Bring 8 cups water and 1 cup white vinegar to just below a simmer. Measure out about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Wilton food coloring and mix well with boiling water. Add this to the pot of water and vinegar. Now you are ready to add your skein of yarn. Check it frequently and remove from the dye bath once it had reached the desired shade. Put it off to the side and let it cool completely. Once cool rinse gently in a sink full of cool soapy water. From these basic steps you can get more elaborate and try different techniques such as mixing colors, dip dyeing one section at a time, overdyeing, etc. Dye Wool Yarn With Food Colors - It's Easy, Fun, Safe. Rainbow dyeing. I've been checking out some springtime blogs in the northern hemisphere and was inspired by the wool blankets dyed by here at Small Wonders.
Taimarie has provided some good links to follow and before I knew it I was in the mood to do some dying. I havn't tried with blankets but wound some recycled wool into hanks to make multi coloured yarn. My Aunt who has entered the World Of Wearable Art for years taught me this simple method which requires only food colouring and white vinigar.
Wind some wool into hanks and wet it. Bring a dye pot with a few centimetres of water to the boil. Add about 3/4 of a cup of white vinigar to the water ( this sets the dye) or acetic acid could be used then you'd only need a tablespoon or so. Take the wool out of the pot with tongs and put it into warm soapy water to rinse. How to dye yarn with food colouring (and small children) I've been busting to show you this, but it's hard finding blogging time during the school holidays with children demanding food and water at regular intervals. You may remember that last year I was voraciously collecting information and resources regarding natural dyeing with plant materials. I've dyed fabrics with chemical dyes many times, but never with the children around.
I became obsessed with the idea of natural plant dyeing (and even joined the Plant Dyeing Group at the craft cottage at the Bot Gardens last year), but was turned off by the need for toxic mordants. (Yes I do know that there are some dye materials that don't need mordanting. Then I found out about dyeing with food colouring. Son #3 (aged 8) was dead keen to dye his own wool which I would then knit into an item of clothing for him. In case anyone's vaguely interested and thinking of doing this with their kids, I present to you (da na na na ...) my very first tutorial. How to dye yarn safely, with small people.