I went out with Cara this morning to Michael's and Wal*Mart to get the rest of the supplies I needed. Sponge brushes, dust masks, cling wrap, and 16 oz screw top plastic jars made by Ball. I also found some Easter egg dye that I can have fun with later. Aaand some Red Heart TLC Essentials yarn in Falling Leaves. I don't know what I will make out of the latter, but the colors remind me of home.
I filled a 12 quart Sterlite tub halfway with lukewarm water, added a couple drops of Synthrapol and a small pour of vinegar, and stirred it around. I put the yarn in, pushed it down to submerge it, then let it sit while I dealt with the dye.I labeled three of the jars with color and concentration (0.44 g/Tbsp), and filled each to the line (I assume this is two cups) with warm water. Into each jar, I poured an entire half ounce jar of Jaquard Acid Dye. The three colors I used were Jet Black, Vermillion, and Sapphire Blue. The dye is supposed to be able to store this way.
I took the yarn out of the bath, and after it was dripping and not pouring, I squeezed it out a little bit. I could see that not a whole lot of water came out, so I kept the volume of my working solutions pretty small. I laid it out on cling wrap, being sure to separate out all the sections that I made yesterday by wrapping and tying.
I then mixed my working solutions in four plastic cups. In each cup I put 2 Tbsp of dye solution from the jars, and 1 Tbsp of vinegar. Three of the working solutions were the pure colors, and the fourth was Vermillion mixed with Sapphire Blue. I used a sponge brush to handpaint the yarn one color at a time. After painting the top of a section, it was necessary to move it around or flip it over to paint the yarn underneath as well. I did run out of dye, but I was okay with having one section that was partly white. Otherwise, it would have been easy to mix up more working solution.
After I was done painting, I pushed the yarn sections together (not too worried about a little bleeding) and wrapped it up in the cling wrap, then folded it in half and wrapped it in more cling wrap. I put it on a paper plate and microwaved it for 9 minutes total, 3 minutes at a time with ~3 minute breaks in between. I then let it sit like that for a few hours until it had cooled off. I unwrapped it/cut it open, then rinsed it in lukewarm then cold water. I did not see any dye come out at all, so I must have done something right. It's out on the line to dry now.And let's not forget PPE (Personal Protective Equipment): I used a dust mask when dealing with the powder, and latex gloves throughout the process.
