Tien Chiu

You are here: Home / Archives for Munsell

by

Dyeing the color wheel

I made my first attempt at dyeing the color wheel (using Lanaset dyes) yesterday, and got fairly decent results.  I only hit one color “dead on”, but that was more than I had expected! and it was a single shade (turquoise), so not that hard to manage.

Here are the closest-matching yarns, wrapped and set against the color wheel:

first attempt at dyeing color wheel using Lanaset dyes
first attempt at dyeing color wheel using Lanaset dyes

As you can see, the turquoise is dead on, the red is a hair too blue and too high chroma (intensity of color), the orange is way too yellow and too high value (i.e. too light), and the yellow is too high chroma (intensity of color).

I dyed seven other skeins as well, but they were obviously non-matching, so I didn’t wind them.

Here is a table with some of my initial notes and speculations (click to read the table, it’s too big to fit into the regular blog post).  The number/letter sequences are references to the Munsell color notation – see Wikipedia for the details.

notes from first attempt at dyeing color wheel using Lanaset dyes
notes from first attempt at dyeing color wheel using Lanaset dyes

I am definitely developing a discerning eye for color, though it isn’t easy – the green hue in particular I had to stare at for awhile, because it’s nearly a perfect match but not quite, and figuring out which direction it was “off” took some doing.  But it is getting easier with practice.

Today I am going to a weaver’s estate sale, and then spending some time with a friend who’s coming over to visit and do crafty stuff together.  I hope to fit some dyeing and weaving time in, though!

by

Starting to dye

I have now assembled nearly all the tools I need to start work on the Munsell color matching dye study group.  So far all I’ve done is put together the Munsell Student Color Set ““ which asks you to arrange a bunch of chips by value, hue, and chroma ““ and document my methods.  Unfortunately I needed quite a bit of equipment to really get started ““ pH meter, volumetric flasks, weighing boats, oh my! The last of it arrives today, so this weekend I will start work on my samples.

The first thing we are doing is working on our procedures and technique ““ dyeing one neutral color (because neutrals are combinations of multiple colors and thus the hardest to get right) three times in three separate dyebaths, to make sure we can reproduce the color reliably.  First at 1% DOS (Depth of Shade is the ratio of dye to dyed goods ““ in this case, 1 gram of dye per 100 grams of yarn), which is a medium dark color, then (once that is repeatable) at .3% DOS, and finally at a very pale shade (.06% DOS if I recall correctly).  That will be quite difficult and will involve a lot of tinkering with and/or hovering over dyepots ““ but is necessary.  If you don’t have the process down pat, you won’t be able to reproduce colors precisely.

In my case I will also be testing out my buffer solution, which is currently citric acid buffered with soda ash.  There are a number of reasons that Karren Brito (the master dyer who is leading the group) thinks it won’t work, so I will have to test it with a pH meter at various times during the dyeing to make sure it is holding the pH at precisely the right level.

Karren is having us work with great precision ““ measuring to +/- 2% accuracy in mixing up and dispensing dyes ““and using techniques and tools more common in chemistry labs than in home dyeing.  But I appreciate this kind of rigor ““ so different from the slapdash methods that typically get taught.  I figure it’s better to learn how to do things precisely and with rigor, and then slack off later (within the limits of what produces acceptable results) ““  that way if I need precision, I have it available, and if I just need to slap something together, I can easily do that as well.

I expect to complete the first set of samples for process testing this weekend.  Stay tuned for pix!