I got 100g of weld from Maiwa and put it into one of my V.V. pots. The amount of wool I have for the yellow is ~120g. So in this case the dye will be  about 85%wof. They recommend 100%wof, but the price of weld is $15 100g, and the next size up is 225g that sells for $30. Double the price for a small amount more that I need… no thanks.

I poured boiling water over the weld and let it sit over night. In the morning I heated up the brew to ~150′F and kept it there for a full hour. I then poured this tea for into my dye pot, and repeated the procedure two more times… trying to get as much dye out of the weld as possible.

I eventually put the weld into a paint strainer bag (Not my cheese making strainer), and steeped it all one more time, and then squeezed out the weld as hard as I could. I then put a ground up tums tablet into the water (as per instructions from maiwa).

I then plunked the yellow down into the dye bath, and kept it at 150′f for a good hour.

It turned yellow, but only a faint shade. I need a bold yellow to stand out from the surround white areas. I left it sitting over night and checked it in the morning… still pale yellow.

This was what I got after rinsing out the wool. No good. It was then I found a book I borrowed from Morweena ages ago on natural dying, and figured I had acidic water.

PH strips are awesome. I had very acidic water. 4.5ph was the problem. Used soda ash to raise the ph to a 8.5ph.

and this happened over night. Wished it was a bit more goldy yellow, but I cant totally live with this bright color. I may  do some tests with iron to see if I sadden it, I could get a golder color.

Yellow wool started to felt a bit after so much mucking about. Drip drying above the laundry tub

and then drying next to the fire. I used EB’s swift to roll it into a ball. with the yarn starting to felt, it worked wonders at keeping it all organized and knot free.

Finished product.

I saved the weld tea, and put it into a jar, and have a large skein of cotton in it just to see how much color I can still get out of the tea.

• January 18, 2011 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.8 Mordanting the Wool (0)
• August 19, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.7 The Math (0)
• March 14, 2010 -- Daffodil Carpet Sample (0)
• March 4, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.5 ~ More Cartoons (3)
• February 14, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet v1.4 Cartoon Time (0)
• February 12, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.3 (0)

So here we have all the skeined up wool samples. I have different amount of wool on each colored skeine so I color coded them by different colored yarn. The green skeins were going to be for the indigo dye (no blue yarn), but at the last second I decided I wanted even more of the red. The yellow and blue are relatively small amounts of wool compared to the red, black, and white colors. I can always get more of the white, but I want to make sure I do not run out of the black and red colors, as it will be difficult to color match the yarn after the fact.  If I was to run out of the blue or yellow, the difference in color of a different dye lot wouldn’t be nearly as obvious. I could even try to blend the colors by slowly mixing those colors at small points in the pattern.

So the mordanting recipe I am using is from the Maiwa Dying sheet.

After scouring the wool with orvus paste (7ph wool soap), I added 15%wof  alum to very hot water, made sure it was completely dissolved and then added it to the large S.S  pot of warm water. I then added the scoured damp wool to the bath ans slowly brought the temperature up to ~90′C and left it there for and hour, gently moving the wool around periodically.

My super Duper massive SS cook Pot. Takes up most of the stove top. The thermometer was just barely long enough to reach the water. Once the hour was up I let the pot cool down for a couple of hours. That pot can hold heat for a long time.

So the pot had cooled down a fair bit, and I took the wool out to drip out . I had originally had them hanging over PVC pipe over the laundry tub. Rearranging them periodically to keep them equally damp. Then someone decided to use the washer, and I rescued the yarn seconds before the dirty washer water flooded the laundry tub (The washer discharges water faster than the pipes in the house can handle, and the back up puts a few inches of dirty wash water into the tub). Do to my fast actions… no one had to die that day!

So next choice was using a laundry basket, and PVC pipe (and a few tongue depressors). I carefully rearranged them, and made sure none of the wool dryed out, but all the dripping was done. I then store them in a damp pillow case waiting for the dye bath process.

• January 18, 2011 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.9 Yellow (1)
• August 19, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.7 The Math (0)
• March 14, 2010 -- Daffodil Carpet Sample (0)
• March 4, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.5 ~ More Cartoons (3)
• February 14, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet v1.4 Cartoon Time (0)
• February 12, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.3 (0)

Sherbert the Entari is slowly chugging along. Its possible it will be done for investiture, but I am starting to doubt it.

I didn’t kill my Mulberry Tree over the holidays. It is starting to bud in the carport. This means the Silkworm project may be only one more year away. It all comes down to how much growth I get this year. I really should get it in a bigger pot soon.

I am working on a turning project for my mom. It involves hundreds of pencil crayons being glued together. I have turned alot of stuff thats been laminated together, but never anything quite like this. It just might kill me =D.

I am building a game board based on a version of Hnefatafl, but it reminds me more of the Irish game Fidchell. I am calling it Boot Licking Toadie in tribute to the whole weirdness of the C______ War politics. The bootlicker with the help of the Toadies have to avoid being captured by the significant Minority all the while trying to suck up to the assorted senechals living in the corners of the game board.

Working on a Pilgrim Badge cast in a stone mold. Stove broke, so I am stuck for the moment.

More research on the Turkish Rug. I think I have my design sorted out except for the center element. Still looking, and thinking of dying my own wool. I have to figure out a rough estimate of the wool I will need, and then figure out if I have enough capacity to dye everything at once. If I can I dye, if not maybe not. Don’t want to thave the colors change mid carpet.

Still going to give the orange turmeric dye one more shot, then I will share the good and badness of my recent dyeing stuffs.

etc….

• January 18, 2011 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.9 Yellow (1)
• January 18, 2011 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.8 Mordanting the Wool (0)
• February 7, 2010 -- Day of Dance / A&S Defenders 2010 (3)
• July 28, 2009 -- Flora & Ash update (0)
• July 12, 2009 -- Purple Heart Dye (0)
• June 6, 2009 -- Mulberry Tree / Silkworm Project (2)

I first separated the sawdust into two piles.

The first pile I left steeping on the stove making a dark reddish tea.

Many more pictures after the jump

The other pile I put into a container of isopropanol. (other bottle is walnut… no color extraction happened once the silt settled down)

Half of my samples I soaked in a Alum solution for 90 minutes. The other set was left alone.

An Alum sample soaking for 24hr in the tea solution

I was very excited to find the alum/tea sample turn a great sage green. I loved this color, but alas… as the sample dried the cotton turned purple.

I guess I tied the sample a little to tight, as there was sections of the cotton that didn’t seem to take the dye well. Back in the bath it went.

The non Alum sample after it was removed from the tea. Lighter shade of green than the mordant sample. It turned to a lighter brighter color of purple.

Final results from the tests (top to bottom)

Large sample of non-Alum steeped in the tea for 1hr. I threw it back in the pot, and will let it steep for a few days.

Non-Alum 24hr tea bath

Alum 24hr tea bath

Non-alum 24hr alcohol bath

alum 24hr alcohol bath

Non-dyed cotton

The alchol dye baths left very soft purple colors. I much prefer the dark purple of the Alum 24hr tea bath. Still wish it stayed that fantastic green color.

• April 1, 2009 -- Milk Paint v1.2 In Search or Red (1)
• August 19, 2010 -- Turkish Carpet Project v1.7 The Math (0)
• August 11, 2010 -- Ouled Naïl Bedouin Tent v2.2 Wooden Bits & Rope (0)
• August 10, 2010 -- Ouled Naïl Bedouin Tent v2.1 The Other Tedious Stuff (0)
• August 4, 2010 -- Ouled Naïl Bedouin Tent v2.0 (2)
• July 26, 2010 -- 15th Century Timur Disked Bell Tent. (0)

Saffron, Brazil Wood, Turmeric, Red Oxide, Carbon Black, Red Saw Dust in Isopropanol,Red Ainiline Dye, and a Black Ainiline Dye were the selections I made today.

results from left to right.  50/50 Saffron & Turmeric, Carbon Black, Carbon black (2x), Red Saw Dust in isopropanol, Water with saffron coloring, Vinegar and nails solution (Seafoam green), Brazil Wood, Brazil Wood (x2), Turmeric, Red Oxide, Red Oxide (x2), Red Ainiline Dye, 50/50 Red Ainiline Dye/ Red Oxide, Black Ainiline Dye.

Results.

 Brazil Wood solution looks orange till you add fresh water to the steeped liquid. It then turns bright red, but then reacts to the lime and turns a disturbing shade of pink.

Red Ainiline Dye, and Red Oxide produce a nice muted medium red. The Oxide on its own is too flesh browny red, and the Ainiline dye is hinting at a magenta.

Carbon Black works great as a dye stuff, but the black ainiline dye never left the grey shade (reaction to the lime?) I think I will try making a liquid dye of the ainiline black to see if it produces the same result as the powder.

Turmeric Orange rocks. Muted orange color in most lights, but when placed out in bright direct sunlight it glows!

• July 12, 2009 -- Purple Heart Dye (0)
• May 11, 2009 -- Turned Bed Frame v1.8 Paint is Dry (4)
• April 23, 2009 -- Milk Paint v1.3 (0)
• March 16, 2009 -- Curdled Milk (0)
• March 8, 2009 -- Chest v1.4 Almost done. (0)
• February 15, 2009 -- Milk Paint v1.0 (0)