First, this is a folk art floral I just finished! I used some wool paisley in the red flower! Fun!
Now a bit of dye chat or dyealougue...lol!
For whatever reason, I hardly ever use an as-is wool. Since, most wools I get need to be washed, I always figure why not throw some dye, coffee or something on it first?? My black dyeing ends up too dark sometimes. This wool had a bit of a sheen, so I basically wanted it changed a little, aged. I wanted something lighter for a runner I am working on. I wanted a dark gray, but not a blue gray, more of a warm gray. So here is what I did in the photo below. The center wool in the photo is the piece as-is. I used 1/2 yard, or actually 2 quarter yard pieces. A combination of orange and blue will give you a gray shade, why not a gray on gray...lol. So, I used 1/8 of Cushings Orange and 1/16 of Royal Blue. I was going to use 1/8 of sky blue, but I rarely use the Royal, so I just cut back on the amount and used it. I love it, not too dark, and a nice prim shade!
Just like in the dye book I wrote, by mixing unusual blends, you can achieve new shades. Silver Gray would have been too blue and Dark Gray too purple. Just like I like to make brown, I enjoy making my own gray too. If you want to try it and don't have orange, royal, or sky blue, just pick up your Cushings dye chart. Pick another orange, like Mummy Brown or Brown Rust, or make an orange from a yellow and a bit of red. You can choose another blue like Copenhagen Blue, it is a great blue, I use it often. Try a couple of different combo's and strengths for a nice background shade or a supplement to shades you already have. ENJOY!!! SMILES~~~! CAThy
