Over the weekend I attended a Dye Day at the Contemporary Handweavers of Houston, Guild House. You bring your prepared yarns in skein form or pre-warped segments for dyeing. An assortment of stock dye colors are premixed for our use. These stock colors can than be mixed to create a wide spectrum of colors. Syringes are used to accurately measure the stock dyes into small cups. Distilled water can be added to dilute dyes for less intense colors. After mixing dye, a drop or two is put on a coffee filter to preview the color once dried. At this point a decision on whether to use as is or make additions to the color that has been premixed, must be made. To help in making decisions on colors to select for use, there were dyed yarn samples with formulas for mixing of colors. When warp painting with Sabracon F dyes, they will bleed into one another creating new colors. There is the possibility of creating muddy colored areas. My fiber of choice for this project is 20/2 silk pre-warped in one inch sections, enough for a shawl. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I painted this warp. The bright green was supposed to be a Teal like color but turned out more greeny. I’m hoping when this finally makes it to the loom it can be toned down with the weft yarn used. The other alternative is to over dye the pre-warped sections.
On the inkle loom a new tablet weaving is in the works using three colors in the warp and 16 tablets .
