Workshops

This workshop is a gentle introduction to on-purpose color dyeing. After covering some basic safety, equipment, and dye stock mixing, you will use the recipes and dyes provided to mix the 24 colors from three basic hues. The class will dye tropical and earthy color wheels. With 48 new recipes, students will paint and/or immersion dye a skein of yarn or roving. Everyone will leave with their own recipe notebook with 48 sample swatches, notes, and a link to a helpful spreadsheet that can do the math for you.

We've all drooled over gradient yarns, fiber, and items made from their gorgeous colors. Join us as we explore, hands-on, a method for building a 36 color gradient from two base colors. After covering some basic safety, equipment, and dye stock mixing, you will measure out from the solutions using the formulas provided. Experience the wonder of the hues and values as they shift across the gradient study. With the 36 new recipes, students will paint and/or immersion dye a skein of yarn or fiber. Everyone will leave with their own recipe book and 36 sample swatches, notes, and a link to a helpful spreadsheet that can do the math for you.

Join us as we explore, hands-on, a method for building a systematic collection of 66 colors from three hues. After covering some basic safety, equipment, and dye stock mixing, you will measure out amounts for the 63 new colors using the formulas provided. The class will apply those colors to white, tan, and grey yarns to get a total of 198 color samples! Along the way, you will see color theory in action, as the basic hues and the three yarn colors affect the resultant color, explore the math behind the triad, simple ways to extend the recipes to any amount of fiber or yarn you choose, and more. Everyone will leave with their own recipe notebook and 198 sample swatches, notes, and a link to helpful spreadsheets.

As you follow the Yellow Brick Road on your Dyeing Adventure, you don’t need to be afraid of tints, toners, and shades! Learn about adding “white,” grey, and black to your colors and the role that additives play in helping you to achieve uniform results with immersion dyeing. Leave with at least 90 samples and recipes, knowledge in how much Albegal Set, Glauber’s Salt, and Acetic Acid you would use for different Depths of Shades, and the confidence to strike out on your own!

How much water do I use? Hot or cold water? Can I dye just any yarn? Acid? What do you mean ACID? I don’t know what I’m doing! Will I get muddy colors?

This is a workshop where you can be knotty, zippy, and resist! Using pre-dyed base yarns, in order to layer colors where you want them, you will use a variety of methods to tell the dye, “Don’t go there!”

Wouldn’t it be lovely dyeing your own wool top and not felting it? How do you wash dyed wool fiber and not mat it? How about keeping it from BLEEDING? How do you get fluffy fibers? Let’s sort out how to dye, heat set, and wash feltable wool and end up being able to spin it! We will practice dyeing on several fiber types so you can take home samples to play with.

When you read the words “analogous” or “split complementary.” do you hear Charlie Brown’s teacher saying, “Wah, wah, wah, wah, waaaah?” Why not really learn how colors work together to create beautiful combinations by DYEING yarn! This workshop is open to all levels of color-intimidation and you’ll go home with six 1 ounce skeins of superwash Merino, notes, labeled tags, and a color wheel of your very own. Please wear old clothes, and close toed shoes and if you are a messy dyer, an apron. Also, bring something to write with.