Sunday was my friend’s tie-dye party, and I went out and dyed two warps, one rayon chenille and one a mix of tencel and rayon yarns. Not content with dyeing a warp in a simple sequence of colors (e.g. the painted warps from Heritage Yarns), I actually separated each warp into two separate chains, and dyed the chains in different colors.
For the rayon chenille warp, I dyed one chain in dark colors (black, purple, sapphire blue) and one chain in sequential rainbow colors. I plan to split the chains up so the effect is irregular stripes of color against a dark background. I think I will weave the entire thing in plainweave, but I’m considering a mix of plainweave and 2/2 twill. With a black rayon chenille weft, I think.
For the tencel and rayon yarns, I dyed them both in sequential rainbow colors, but reversing the color sequence. So the tencel warp chain goes red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple, and the rayon yarn goes purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red. I also plan to intersperse these warps in irregular stripes, but because the rayon yarn is a bit thicker than the tencel, I will weave it in a 2/2 twill and the tencel in plainweave, thus (I hope!) making up for the difference in thickness between the yarns.
(Twills should be sett closer than plainweave, so doing a thicker yarn (more open sett) in twill (closer sett) next to a thinner yarn (closer sett) in plainweave (more open sett) might just work.) I’ll have to sample, of course, and have allocated an extra yard of warp for sampling.
It took a surprisingly long time to paint the warp, and LOTS more dye than I was expecting it to take. The rayon chenille in particular soaked up unbelievable amounts of dye, and continued bleeding color for over an hour during the rinsing-out. (I was using Procion MX dye, as that’s what was being used at the tie-dye party.) I eventually gave up on rinsing *all* the dye out, and decided to dry the yarn as-is. When the shawls are woven, I’ll put it through a hot wash with Synthrapol and hope that’s enough to get the dye out.
However, I won’t get to do any weaving with my freshly dyed warps until after July 2. That’s because I’m having my combined birthday and (long-delayed) housewarming party on Sunday! (I’m turning 37 on Friday – strange to be in my late thirties. Forty seems like it’s coming up WAAAAY too fast…) The rest of this week is going to be a frantic effort to clean up the house in preparation for the party.
The warps are not yet dry (they’re currently drying out on my patio). When they’re ready, I’ll take a photo. The colors are beautifully intense, and the tencel in particular took the dye nicely – came out of the dyebath lustrous and practically glowing.
