Hand painting or hand dying yarn is great fun and really easy. You don’t need to use expensive dyes to get vibrant colors and lasting results. Food dye and food coloring can be bought in any supermarket and makes a great yarn dye.
Food dye and food coloring are acid dyes and will only work on protein fibers like wool and silk. They are non-toxic, biodegradable and cheap which makes them a great alternative to expensive and toxic chemical dyes.
Below are simple instructions for hand dying yarn into solid single colors and hand painting yarn with more than one color.
If you have never done any dying before it might be best to start with the first tutorial so that you can grasp the basics and see how the wool yarn behaves with the dye, then try the second tutorial.
TUTORIAL ONE – How to Hand Dye Yarn into Solid Single Colors.
You will need:
- Food coloring or food dye
- Vinegar
- Yarn
- Heavy base pot
- Stovetop
- Large syringe or measuring cup for measuring food color
- Water
Creating Colors
Decide on what colors you want to use, a bit of color theory comes in handy here. You might want to start by using colors straight from the bottle or take the plunge and begin mixing primary colors together. Below is a color chart from the Queen Food Colouring Company. It is a great guide to help mix up your colors. Experiment and keep records of your color recipes
E.g. My favorite purple was made by mixing 3 parts red with one part blue.
The food dye needs to be mixed with water – and depending on the depth of color you want, the ratio of food dye to water will vary greatly. For very deep colors you may want to try one part food color to 25 parts water, for lighter shades you may use 1 part food dye to 200 parts water etc. Amounts used will also vary depending on the brand of dye you use.
You will need to use about 500mls of water per 50 gm ball of wool.
e.g. To dye one 50gm ball of wool purple you use the purple color recipe:
3 parts red to 1 part blue.
The color should be mixed in with 500mls of water, and to achieve differing depths of purple you use more or less amounts of coloring.
e.g. a deep purple is achieved by using the following recipe:
500mls of water to 20mls of red (3 parts) and 5mls of blue (1 part).
Where as lavender can be achieved by using 500mls of water to 5 mls of purple (3 parts) and about 1.5mls of blue (1 part).
This may sound a little complex but once it clicks you will find it easy.
Trouble shooting tip: Acid dyes, dye very evenly. If you are getting uneven colors you are not using enough dye.
Lay out your Skein and secure in a couple of places by tying wool around it.
Soak skein in tepid water with 25mls of vinegar per 500mls of water for an hour before dying- It is said this open the fibers and improves color fastness.
Mix up your colors add your water and pour the dying solution into a pot. Heat until it is at a weak simmer – the surface is moving slightly but not bubbling.
Add the yarn.
Continue to simmer and gently stir until all the color in the pot has been absorbed by the wool and the remaining water is clear. This will take less than 10 minutes.
Trouble shooting tip: If your yarn will not take the dye you may be using wool that is too coarse. Coarse wools only absorb small amounts of color. The best wool for dying is fine and superfine classes of wool. WOOLganic is perfect for hand dying.
Pour yarn into colander and rinse with tap water unit all residue color has run out.
Hang the skein in the shade for a day or two or until completely dry.
I have found these yarns to be colorfast providing they are hand washed and dried out of direct sunlight.
TUTORIAL TWO – How to hand paint yarn using more than one color.
You will need:
- Food coloring or food dye
- Vinegar
- Yarn
- Heavy base pot
- Cling wrap
- Paintbrush (optional)
- Stovetop
- Large syringe or measuring cup for measuring food color
- Water
Refer to Creating Colors in tutorial one for information about how to mix food coloring and food dye.
Lay out a sheet of cling wrap long enough for your skein to lay entirely over the top.Lay your skein out over the cling wrap.
You can hand paint your color directly onto the yarn for very accurate results.
You can also syringe it on. I prefer the pour and soak method. You pour small quantities at a time of dye onto the yearn and let the yarn soak up the dye. Turn the yarn over to make sure the color has soaked right through.
You can paint on as many colors as you like. Here I’ve used blue, with two different dilutions of water, and undiluted red.
Once you have finished painting the yarn you need to wrap in cling wrap.
Tie up the ends of the roll and roll up like a scroll, then tie something around it to hold it together.
Bring a couple of litres of water to a weak simmer in a thick based pan and put the yarn in for about 40 minutes, turn over with tongs after 20 mins.
Remove from pot, take of plastic – with tongs cause its hot. Place in colander and rinse with tap water until residual color runs out.
Hang skein in the shade for a day or two or until completely dry.
