1st set of samples

I woke up early this morning, ran out to  the dyepots, and rinsed out my samples!

From left to right, they are varying grades of violet to turquoise @ 4% DOS, and then the first few stages of violet-to-magenta, also at 4%.

Because the dyebath did not exhaust completely, I decided that I must have used too much dye, so for the next batch I reduced the dye to 2%.  It came out considerably lighter, but the dyebath still did not exhaust.

Puzzled, I revisited my calculations, and realized I’d put in roughly THIRTY times as much leveling agent as I should have!  I had been putting in 8 ml where I should have put in .4 ml.  That’s what comes of being a math major!

(At Caltech we had a rule that said the youngest non-math major had to calculate the bill whenever we went to a restaurant.  The youngest got stuck with the chore, but it was generally agreed that (theoretical) math majors were so hopelessly incompetent at arithmetic that they should be exempted.  And I was a math major!  That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.  😉 )

And here is a photo of my dye sampling setup:

It’s basically an electric frying pan with a bunch of canning jars in it.  Watch this space, though, because I’m going to upgrade it!  I got so frustrated with the canning jars (which are way too big for my 40 ml dye samples) that I ordered an entire case of 60ml Pyrex glass vials from eBay.  They are way smaller than the pint jars (a pint jar is 450 ml!) so I should be able to do larger sample batches using the smaller vials.  Assuming the whole idea works.  I guess I’ll just have to try it!

I know there are people out there who find dyeing samples (or weaving them!) to be incredibly tedious, but I find it absolutely fascinating.  You can find out so much  in such a short time!   And it’s magical to see the results coming in after just an hour or two.  After spending an entire year on the dress, I think I’m entitled to some instant gratification!