As promised the other day, I'm back with photos of some of the results of the Peruvian dyes. I've tried maybe half of them so far, with pretty impressive results--but still not much clue what any of them are!
This is Granate (captus) & Morado (mineral)--so Garnet (unknown? Possibly cactus?) & Purple (mineral--what kind of mineral, no one knows!)
And the same colours on fibre:
This is Amarillo (girasol) & Granate--so Yellow (Sunflower) with that same Garnet dye. The yellow is primarily super vivid, but there are a few smudges that turned out muddy. Still, a fun bright colour!
Verde Turquesa (mineral), Verde Limon (planta), & a bit of Amarillo (girasol) with Azul (mineral)--Turquoise Green (mineral), Lime Green (plant), the same sunflower with Blue (mineral). This yarn felt a bit stiff even after rinsing & washing before drying, so I wondered if one of these dyes was having an impact on the wool. This theory seemed to be confirmed by the merino wool that was dyed in the same colours:
The fiber is full of sections like this:
The fiber is very stiff and clumped together. When pulled apart, there seems to be some dye residue left in there. In fact, for anyone who has spun/seen the Targhee fiber that Koigu has been selling recently, the effect is a bit like what I saw in their fibre--but worse. I didn't enjoy spinning that Koigu, so I definitely will not be selling this wool to anyone since it does not look pleasant. I may try putting some of it through the drum carder, after fluffing it up outside to get the excess dye residue off.
Finally, the ones I'm most excited about are still on the drying rack--so I don't have great photos yet:
Not an accurate colour representation by any means, I'll have to take more pictures once they're dry. This includes some more Morado, Azul, & Verde Limon.
There are still lots of great colours in the packet of dyes, including some orange, pink, more yellows & reds, & some black, so I'll post again when I've tried the rest of them out!
This is Granate (captus) & Morado (mineral)--so Garnet (unknown? Possibly cactus?) & Purple (mineral--what kind of mineral, no one knows!)
And the same colours on fibre:
This is Amarillo (girasol) & Granate--so Yellow (Sunflower) with that same Garnet dye. The yellow is primarily super vivid, but there are a few smudges that turned out muddy. Still, a fun bright colour!
Verde Turquesa (mineral), Verde Limon (planta), & a bit of Amarillo (girasol) with Azul (mineral)--Turquoise Green (mineral), Lime Green (plant), the same sunflower with Blue (mineral). This yarn felt a bit stiff even after rinsing & washing before drying, so I wondered if one of these dyes was having an impact on the wool. This theory seemed to be confirmed by the merino wool that was dyed in the same colours:
The fiber is full of sections like this:
The fiber is very stiff and clumped together. When pulled apart, there seems to be some dye residue left in there. In fact, for anyone who has spun/seen the Targhee fiber that Koigu has been selling recently, the effect is a bit like what I saw in their fibre--but worse. I didn't enjoy spinning that Koigu, so I definitely will not be selling this wool to anyone since it does not look pleasant. I may try putting some of it through the drum carder, after fluffing it up outside to get the excess dye residue off.
Finally, the ones I'm most excited about are still on the drying rack--so I don't have great photos yet:
Not an accurate colour representation by any means, I'll have to take more pictures once they're dry. This includes some more Morado, Azul, & Verde Limon.
There are still lots of great colours in the packet of dyes, including some orange, pink, more yellows & reds, & some black, so I'll post again when I've tried the rest of them out!
Comments
About the Koigu fibre - I haven't spun mine yet, but based on comments from you and from others, I decided to wash it first. I gave it two thorough baths in Soak, and it lost a LOT of dye and a lot of dust, and the colours seem more vibrant afterwards. It's still kind of felty, though, and I doubt more washing would fix that! We'll see what happens when I try to spin it up...
So many beautiful things in your posts!