Results post.

This is the post many have asked for.  This is a all-in-one post for the different test batches I have done.  The wool for these experiments was from a cone of sport weight super wash wool.  Each group is sorted into 4 skeins. 

1. Straight off the cone.
2. Scored in a wool soap, in cold water.
3. Put into a cold alum soak.
4. Both Scored and put in Alum.

Pine Cones

Eucalyptus Bark

Elm Bark (got washed with the iron batch, so iron influenced the color)

Elm Bark with Iron

Yellow Onion Skins

Yellow Onion Skins with Iron

Second batch of Elm Bark

Black Rice

Black Rice with the Rice left with the Dye

Walnuts and Red Onion

My next experiments have started.  The first is walnut shells.  I bought 3 bags of walnuts, then after cracking the shells open, I put them in a bag, then into the dye pot.  The reason that this looks a little empty, is because I removed many of the hulls, and put more liquid into a second bottle.

I am separating the dye into two separate dyes to compare colors again, just as was done with the black rice.

Here is my batch of red onion skins.  The best source of onion skins are the grocery store.  The clerk at the register might look at you funny.  If you have a farmer's market, they are more than willing to give you their skins.  This batch was also split into two batches.

Here are all four dyes that will sit in their containers will sit for about 5 days.

Pure vs. Superwash & VM

Still no pictures, but I pulled the elm bark, the black rice and the 2nd batch bottles.

I would like to know who has dyed with both pure and SW wool in the same dye pot.  There is a real difference, since all of the wool was scoured and mortared together.  One took a lot more dye than the other one.

Is there a difference between removing the VM (Vegetable Matter) and leaving it in?  Yes!  There is a difference, at least when it black rice the dye material.  The filtered wool is blue/violet, while the unfiltered medium purple.  While you are dyeing with rice, stir often, otherwise you will get a tonal effect.

I have the skeins of the fingering weight prepped.  The elm was transferred to a bottle.  A second bottle was filtered from the rice and a third was filled with rice put into the bottle.  I look forward to the color variation. 

Progress and Iron

I keep forgetting to take pictures of the iron dye batch.  I started a second batch of elm bark.  I also started a batch of black rice as well.

Soaking Elm Bark Wool

Two batches of black rice wool soaking.  Two batches you ask?  I started reading more, and reading on Ravelry.  Do you strain the vegetable matter (VM) from dye first, or leave the VM in the pot?  The top was just liquid, the bottom is wool and rice together.

I started another experiment as well.  These are the elm & iron, onion skins & iron, and just onion skins.  This time I changed the fiber.  Each bottle has two skeins, both fingering weight.  One is 100% wool.  (I have been using sport weight Superwash wool.)  The other is a Wool/Bamboo (rayon) 65% / 35% blend.

Next Experiment

This is part of my next experiment.

Iron

Iron (Ferrous Sulfate).  Iron will darken and sadden depending on the amount of iron used.  Because iron can weaken, it is added after the fiber is soaked. 

These are two jars, Elm Bark and Red Onion with 10% per the weight of the wool (3/4 tsp of iron each).

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The problem I had was Soaking the wool.  I'm worried the iron batch bled onto the unmodified batch.

Yellow Onions/Elm Bark

This is the Elm Bark and The Yellow Onions drying after about 5 days.

 This is the same batch after a Soak and drying.

I may be dyeing a second batch of Elm bark, because I'm not sure if this batch was contaminated.  See further posts about Iron.