Monday, May 4, 2009

Sunrise Sherbet Roving

Last night I finally managed to dye up some roving. A new friend gave me around 7 ounces of undyed merino top so i grabbed a handful and got to dying. I used 2.5 ounces of roving, 3 packets of jello mix, vinegar, and salt. First I set up set my wet roving on the kitchen table over a towel and some over lapping zip-lock bags. The method called for plastic wrap but I was currently all out so decided to improvise. Once my roving was all layed out I started to mix my dye, which was a combination of jello power, vinegar, and salt. For the yellow/lemon I used just about a full package, for the pink/black cherry I used half of a package, and for the orange i used just over a pack of jello powered. Then I put a pot on the stove top to bring to a boil. While I waited for the water to get hot enough to produce a steam I got to work applying the dye to my yarn. I knew the colors would bleed together eventually so I started out with the yellow, moved over to the orange and finally added the red so that when they did bleed together it would create a nice transition flow. Once the dye was on i finished wrapping my roving in the zip-lock bags making sure to start the roll from the yellow side that way when the water was displaced by the rolling I wouldn't get the red into my yellow. By the time I finished this my water was already at a nice boil so I placed an old strainer/shifter into the top of the pan to create a boil rack and placed the roving in the strainer/ shifter and covered it with a lid. I kept the roving in the steam for a little over 35 minutes and then let it cool in the sink for about 10 mins before I put it into a cold bath or another 15-20 mins.

I am really happy with the results! Next time i think ill use the full packs of jello for all the colors. I got a very soft pastel colorway which is lovely but i was hoping for a more vibrant color. ( the top picture shows the true colorway more accurately then the one below) I was really happy that the fiber didn't have a lot of felting after the dying process. I know it is to be expected but I was really worried it would felt alot and no longer have that nice merino texture. However the roving regain its fluffy after i snapped it a few times.

1 comment:

idyll hands said...

Fabulous dye job! I've not tried jello yet for dyes. I use acid dyes. I have noticed that I don't get too much bleeding when the colors cross over a lighter one as it happens so fast when rolling up the roving "burritos" - but that is with acid dyes - not jello :) I can't wait to see what you spin up with that.