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 Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:53 pm
To anyone who's ever colored wool with Kool-Aid, does it still felt afterwards? Any precautions to take to make sure it still felts well?
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:41 pm
Honestly, if it's not already treated to be machine washable, you'll need to take care you don't accidentally felt it while dying! blaugh
As far as I know, Kool-Aid (or any other dye) does not impact how a yarn felts. 3nodding
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:27 am
AriRashkae Honestly, if it's not already treated to be machine washable, you'll need to take care you don't accidentally felt it while dying! blaugh As far as I know, Kool-Aid (or any other dye) does not impact how a yarn felts. 3nodding Exactly. When I was dying my wool with KoolAid, it felted slightly in the process. It still felted beautifully after, though. The only thing that will really impair your felting is bleach. Buy undyed, unbleached wool to dye. Many companies bleach wool to make it white or light colored and that will impair felting dramatically.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:00 pm
yes it will still felt, just make sure that when you are doing the warm water bath for the dye, that afterwards you let it sit, before you wash out the extra dye
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:15 am
Catcheen Exactly. When I was dying my wool with KoolAid, it felted slightly in the process. It still felted beautifully after, though. The only thing that will really impair your felting is bleach. Buy undyed, unbleached wool to dye. Many companies bleach wool to make it white or light colored and that will impair felting dramatically. Thank you for the tip about bleach, I didn't know that it hindered the ability of wool to felt.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:47 am
ForestGreen Catcheen Exactly. When I was dying my wool with KoolAid, it felted slightly in the process. It still felted beautifully after, though. The only thing that will really impair your felting is bleach. Buy undyed, unbleached wool to dye. Many companies bleach wool to make it white or light colored and that will impair felting dramatically. Thank you for the tip about bleach, I didn't know that it hindered the ability of wool to felt. No problem! I've seen too many adorable felted bags ruined because someone put a pale stripe on a dark colored bag. The dark part felts nice and tight and the stripe is looser. Definitely not attractive. can you imagine doing that with something that's supposed to fit? Like slippers or a hat? Oh, I'd be so crestfallen with all the work put into something that didn't fit. From what I've been told, the bleach kinda burns the barbs on the ends of the wool. So the felting process where you open the barbs, squish it together, and lock the barbs back down is null and void.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:25 pm
sometimes if you are doing immersion dyeing (soaking in pot or something) you can just use a wooden spoon end and just dunk it in, here are some main causes that the fiber felts: high agitation( swishing it around or moving it) hot water, and i think a few others. i think i saw a few posts on how to remedy or something on craftster's forums. dont know if that will help but thats all i can think of at the moment. or try super wash wool that i hear wont felt
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:31 pm
Kool Aid definitely does not affect how wool felts. Nor do other food dyes or acid dyes. I've dyed wool with Kool Aid, and it felted very, very slightly in the process of dyeing. Had I not been so careful not to agitate the wool, it probably would have felted more.
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:01 pm
Catcheen ForestGreen Thank you for the tip about bleach, I didn't know that it hindered the ability of wool to felt. No problem! I've seen too many adorable felted bags ruined because someone put a pale stripe on a dark colored bag. The dark part felts nice and tight and the stripe is looser. Definitely not attractive. can you imagine doing that with something that's supposed to fit? Like slippers or a hat? Oh, I'd be so crestfallen with all the work put into something that didn't fit. From what I've been told, the bleach kinda burns the barbs on the ends of the wool. So the felting process where you open the barbs, squish it together, and lock the barbs back down is null and void. That makes sense since bleach burns the heck out of my skin too. I have to wear gloves whenever I play with any chlorine product. I haven't played with felting or fulling yet but it is on my list of things to do someday. I'll try to remember not to used bleached white yarn. It shouldn't be too much of a problem with me because I like my colors on the darker side anyway.
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:44 pm
remember that felting happens because of:
1. changes in temperature
2. agitation
so if you're dying don't dye with hot and then rinse with cold or rub the yarn.
The felting process means that teeny little fibers all hook together. Bleach actually weakens the fibers so they don't hook together. Most dye doesn't, kool aid included. So felt away smile
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