This page describes how I dyed the samples for my 1500-sample Procion MX dye sample set. You could use this method to make your own sample sets, but it will be much quicker and easier for you to take one of Carol Soderlund’s classes, which will enable you (and your classmates) to make a sample set for three colors in only 5 days. (Two of my friends and I spent an entire year dyeing my 1500-sample set and winding them onto cards.)
Skein prep – First Dyebath
- Purchase 250 10g skeins of 20/2 cotton yarn from Testfabrics. (You can use smaller skeins, but you’ll need to adjust the amounts of dye and soda ash appropriately.)
Why use TestFabrics skeins rather than winding your own? Testfabrics is great for sample skeins because – unlike hand-wound skeins – the weight of their skeins is very accurate and consistent. In earlier samples with hand-wound skeins, I found that skeins of the same length could vary as much as 20% in weight – from 4.0 to 5.8 grams for a skein targeted to be 5g. This makes it hard to measure dye concentrations accurately. Testfabrics’ 10 gram skeins weigh 10.00 g +/- .005g according to my (calibrated) scales.
- Label each skein with the dye colors and %WOG to be used in the first dyebath using a flagging tape “bracelet” run through the center of the skein, labeled with Avery Ultraduty GHS Chemical labels, which are waterproof labels designed for extreme conditions. (You can boil these labels in soapy water and they will not come off.) Make sure the labels are wrapped around the flagging tape on both sides so the flagging tape won’t peel away.
The %WOG I used for my samples were:
Light cube: 0% (not dyed in first bath), 0.06%, 0.12%, 025%, 0.5%
Dark cube: 0% (not dyed in first bath), 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 4%
To make tracking the dyes and concentrations easier, I color-coded the labels when printing them (on a laser printer; if you have an inkjet, test it to make sure it doesn’t bleed when dyeing). The outer ring indicates the color of dye that was used. The inner color shows the concentration of the dye. This made it easier to pick out colors at a glance.
To make sure the label didn’t come off, I printed it double width and wrapped it all the way around the flagging tape, covering both sides. (Otherwise the flagging tape peels away.)
- Gather individual skeins in groups of five. Tie each group of five together with a flagging tape “bracelet” passed through each of the individual . Group together five groups of five skeins, and tie together with another flagging tape “bracelet”. You should now have a group of 25 skeins, each tied together with a flagging-tape bracelet.
- Scour batches of 50 skeins in a solution of 4 gallons hot water + 1 teaspoon Synthrapol. Soak for at least 1 hour.
- Rinse skeins in 2 changes of warm water. Skeins should be at 80-90 degrees at the start of the dyebath.
Dyebath
- Weigh out appropriate amount of dye for each set of 25 skeins:
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- 25 skeins x 10 grams each = 250g of yarn to be dyed in each dyebath
- 250g x (%WOG of dye)/100 = amount of dye to be used.
- Example: at 0.06% WOG, you would need 250 x 0.06/100 = 0.15 grams of dye.
- When working with small quantities of dye (as in the example above), it is easier to use stock solutions. Mix 1g of dye into 100g of water. Add 100x the amount of stock solution as you would have added dye.
- Example: at 0.06% WOG, you need 0.15g dye, so you would add 100 x 0.15 = 15 ml (1 ml= 1 gram) of stock solution.
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- “Paste up” dye in a small amount of warm water to help dissolve dye. (Otherwise it clumps up and can be difficult to dissolve.)
- Pour 7500 mL of water, at about 85-90F, into bucket.
- Weigh and dissolve salt in dyebath according to the following table:
- Add pasted-up dye and stir, washing out container in which you pasted up the dye to make sure you have all the dye.
- Weigh out appropriate amount of soda ash for dyebath (according to the preceding table) and mix in 150 mL of water. Do NOT add to dyebath yet.
- 0 minutes – Add skeins to dyebath. Lift skeins in and out of dyebath several times to make sure the water penetrates through the entire skein.
- 5 minutes – Begin “rotating skeins”. Lift the bunch of skeins partially out of the dyebath. Pick one skein out of the bunch and rotate it around its flagging-tape “bracelet” so the bracelet falls in a different place on the skein. (If not rotated, the skein will compress where it touches the flagging tape, and the skein will dye unevenly). When done, lift and lower the skeins in and out of the dyebath to encourage circulation of the dye.
- 10 minutes – lift skeins in and out of dyebath to circulate dye. Rotate skein “bracelets” to ensure even dyeing.
- 15 minutes – lift skeins in and out of dyebath to circulate dye. Rotate skein “bracelets” to ensure even dyeing.
- 20 minutes – Remove the skeins from the dyebath and add â…“ (50 ml) of the soda ash solution. Stir dyebath. Lift skeins in and out of dyebath, then rotate skein “bracelets”.
- 30 minutes – add â…“ (50ml) of soda ash solution, circulate by lifting and lowering skeins. Rotate skein bracelets.
- 40 minutes – add â…“ (50 ml) of soda ash solution, circulate by lifting and lowering skeins
- 50 minutes – circulate by lifting and lowering skeins
- 60 minutes – circulate by lifting and lowering skeins
- 70 minutes – circulate by lifting and lowering skeins
- 80 minutes – circulate by lifting and lowering skeins
- 90 minutes – circulate by lifting and lowering skeins
- 100 minutes – remove skeins from dyebath.
- Let skeins soak at least 1 hour – preferably overnight – in cold water. (If you are doing multiple batches, each batch needs to soak in a separate bucket.)
- Soak each batch separately for several hours in HOT water with 1 tbsp of Synthrapol per 4 gallons of water.
- Spin out skeins in washing machine (NO AGITATION!).
- Rinse in hot water, soaking for at least 1 hour.
- Rinse in hot water again (1 hour soak) to make sure there is no further bleeding.
- Spin out skeins in washing machine (NO AGITATION!)\
- Hang to dry.
This method can also be used with stock solutions of dye, salt, etc. if that’s easier. With lower concentrations of dye, stock solutions may be more accurate.
Second Dyebath
- At the end of the first dyebath, you should have 10 groups of 25 skeins of each, one group for each concentration. Each 25-skein group should have been divided into five groups of five.
- Pick out the concentrations for the light cube: 0%, 0.06%, 0.12%, 0.25%, 0.5%. You now have 5 groups of 25 skeins each.
- Split each group of 25 into its five-skein subgroups, and create new groups of 25 using one five-skein subgroup from each concentration. You now have new sets of 25 skeins, each of which contains 5 skeins of each concentration in the light cube.
- Do the same for the dark cube skeins: 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 4%
- Label the skeins with the concentrations for dye #2.
- Dye the light cube skein groups in 5 dye baths, using the light cube concentrations: 0%, 0.06%, 0.12%, 0.25%, 0.5%, using the method in the Dyebath section.
- Dye the dark cube skein groups in 5 dye baths, using the dark cube concentrations: 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 4%, using the method in the Dyebath section.
Third (Final) Dyebath
- At the end of the second dyebath, you should have 10 groups of 25 skeins each, 5 groups for the light cube and 5 for the dark cube. Each group should contain all possible combinations of dye #1 (first dyebath) x a single concentration of dye #2, as in each row of the table below:
Dye concentrations | Dye 1 0% | Dye 1 0.06% | Dye 1 0.12% | Dye 1 0.25% | Dye 1 0.5% |
Dye 2 0% | Group 1 | Group 1 | Group 1 | Group 1 | Group 1 |
Dye 2 0.06% | Group 2 | Group 2 | Group 2 | Group 2 | Group 2 |
Dye 2 0.12% | Group 3 | Group 3 | Group 3 | Group 3 | Group 3 |
Dye 2 0.25% | Group 4 | Group 4 | Group 4 | Group 4 | Group 4 |
Dye 2 0.5% | Group 5 | Group 5 | Group 5 | Group 5 | Group 5 |
- Break up these groups and rearrange to form new groups of 25, each group containing one skein from each of the groups in the table. You should now have 25 skeins containing every possible combination of concentrations for dyes #1 and #2.
- Rearrange all the skeins in the dark cube in the same way.
- Label the skeins with the concentrations for dye #3.
- Dye the light cube skein groups in 5 dye baths, using the light cube concentrations: 0%, 0.06%, 0.12%, 0.25%, 0.5%, using the method in the Dyebath section.
- Dye the dark cube skein groups in 5 dye baths, using the dark cube concentrations: 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 4%, using the method in the Dyebath section.
After Dyeing is Complete
Once the samples have been dyed in all three dyebaths, wind the yarn (in a single flat layer) onto 1.375″ x 2.5″ cards cut from conservation mat board and store in tobacco card sleeves (20/page).