This is a technique I read about on Dharma Trading Company's website. Except for a minor deviation, I followed their instructions. And yes, I did it on the grill! Too hot to do it in the house and I feel better using these dyes outside.
First, I chose three fibers
Left to right - Ashland Bay Corrie Blend Wool (Paradise Fibers), white alpaca (Bucks County Herd), and light tan/fawn alpaca (Hunterdon County Sheep & Wool).
I filled three quart jars with corrie blend, three jars with white alpaca, and one jar with tan alpaca. I disolved 1/2 Tbs of citric acid in a cup of water per jar. Then fill jar with water. Let sit minimum of 2 hours.
Put 1/2 tsp of Dharma's Acid Dye in a container, added 1 cup of hot water, mixed well.
In fiber jar, 4 Tbsp of mixed dye, stir well with skewer.
From bottom center clockwise:
407 Caribean Blue
408 Teal Green
403 Flamingo Pink (tan alpaca)
401 Brilliant Yellow
404 Sapphire Blue
402 Fire Engine Red
In the center:
448 Chartreuse
Fill the pot 1/4'way with water, set on grill with low/medium heat. Put jars in. Made sure the water level was at least 1/2 way up the jar but not higher than 3/4. Adjusted the heat to make sure it got hot but didn't bubble. First 20 minutes stirred gently every 5 minutes. Added 1/2 Tbsp of citric acid and stirred well. Another 20 minutes stirred three times.
Let cool for a couple of hours.
Washed in cold water, dish detergent and salt. Soak 10-15 minutes then rinse.
Teal, Caribean blue, fire engine red, sapphire blue
Should have stirred the sapphire blue and fire engine red jars more. I have white areas.
Top - chartreuse, brilliant yellow, flamingo pink (tan alpaca).
Now they dry...
This was fun!
Nancy
