One snowy New Hampshire night, years ago, my buddy Marcia invited me up to learn how to hook rugs. I was a seasoned crafter and also explained to her that, with three small children, I wanted a task that could be completed quickly. So she demonstrated how to make a penny area rug. For those who are new to made of wool crafting, penny carpets are comprised of pieces of wool that are appliqud, while using blanket stitch, onto a base piece of wool, or other fabric. Decades ago, women used scraps from their made of woll rug hooking initiatives, and cut the actual scraps into sectors, using a penny as a template. The sectors were arranged in pretty designs, sewn onto the base material, and turned into adornments for the house -- table runners, doilies, coverlets, etc. Today, penny rug models may be much more complex, as crafters take the art to new places. The craft is actually gaining popularity, because it is an easy task to create something pretty and useful concurrently. And a simple project could be completed in a night or two.

So my buddy supplied me together with wool from the girl stash to get started. From the time she brought out The actual Wool, I cherished the craft. We made my own layout for that first cent rug and brought my own style to the project, using a concept from Genesis of the snake in a tree inside the Garden of Eden, with thorns embroidered around the ends, growing in towards the "garden" in the middle. The only elements in the design that may be considered "pennies" were the particular round fruits about the tree. I managed to get symbolic, telling an account in the Bible which was meaningful to me, understanding that first project got my attention, so that I could hardly wait to do more.

Whenever it came time for you to shop for more made of wool, I quickly realized that, because frugal as I had been, I would have a hard time providing all the colors that I wanted for potential projects. So I determined to learn to dye my own, personal wool. I have never already been one to take the outdone path or do anything small-scale, so I was not inclined to rush towards the store and buy all of the pre-formulated colors and just begin dyeing. I needed someplace to start out, and a way to trial a large variety of colors from which I could choose my favorites. So I rifled through outdated issues of 'Threads' magazine to see if there might be helpful tips there. Lo and see, I stumbled upon what turned into a life-changing article simply by Linda Knutson about dyeing using only the three primaries, dissolved in h2o to a 1% dilution. I loved this idea. It would keep the mechanics simple and the buying of supplies low, so that I could test to my money grubbing heart's content. The article additionally outlined a systematic approach to trialing colors, using modern percentage-based formulas. Brilliant! A way to address my dependence on organization, while allowing me to be imaginative.

KEEPING Colour CHOICES SIMPLE The initial decision I created at the outset was to only use white wool. Since then, I have had to content material myself with utilizing natural, because white-colored is not always available, and i also want to be as consistent as possible, since I furthermore sell wool. (Utilizing natural wool will add a tiny bit associated with warmth to the colors, but not enough to bother with.) Before I started dyeing, I saw many supplements using a base made of woll of taupe, or khaki, and so forth., but I concluded that I might have every color of the rainbow ultimately anyway, so to use one base color would keep everything constant. I further standardised by creating formulas using only the three primaries. I work in color households or 'tiers' of colour, from very vibrant to primitive, and I determine where a color belongs by how most of the third primary it includes. If I were utilizing mixtures of pre-formulated colours, this kind of organization would be impossible. My method also allows me to see gaps among formulas, ensuring that I've a continuous selection all over the color wheel inside each tier.

It's also easier to find colors which are in between colors My partner and i already have. For instance, should i be studying two doldrums and I want to discover the color in between, breaking the difference in the formulation will nearly always produce the color I want, provided that I start with a couple of colors that are pretty similar. Sometimes it will take two stabs to get the formula right, but that is usually all it takes. By indicating all formulas within the same simple terms (three colors, in rates), we reduce a mystery formula to a statistical equation, rather than an educated guess.

GOING Measurement Like most of us, I will be accustomed to using English measurements, and when I actually do anything else I nevertheless use cups, yards, pounds, teaspoons and all the rest. But when I started dyeing wool, I felt a fantastic need to eliminate as much variables as I can. So I took a massive breath and changed my mindset, the location where the Wool is concerned, to presenting metric measurement for everything, despite these reluctance to do this somewhere else in my life. I'm so glad Used to do. Honestly, using the measurement system makes the math concepts easy to manage an individual will be accustomed to it, rather than beyond the average person along with basic math expertise.

The great beauty of the particular metric system is which 1 ml of water weighs A single gram, so fluid measure and dried up measure can be treated since equal for wool-dyeing functions. This principle is completely key to everything a single does when using this technique. You can relate the gram weight of dye powder equally to the ml dimension of water when coming up with dyestock, and you can relate the actual gram weight from the wool equally for the amount of ml in the dyestock, when choosing a value to get a color.

For instance, We mix 1 g of dye along with 99 ml of water, creating A hundred ml of a '1% solution dyestock'. Because 1 cubic centimeters of water weighs 1 gram, this particular 1/99 ratio of coloring to water is actually mathematically accurate and easy in order to quantify. I help make 1% dyestock for each primary, as well as store it all within milk jugs. Thus remember: rugs sf.

1 gram dye powder + 99 ml water Equals a 1% dyestock solution
Utilizing PERCENTAGE-BASED FORMULAS Now I'm will make you think a little harder. You'd better go get a cup of coffee!

In addition to taking on the metric method, I continued standardizing my personal methods by rendering all formulas in percentages, rather than tsp fractions. This creates a 'universal' formula that will perform, regardless of the size piece being dyed. For instance, if I am using a method that is 90% red as well as 10% yellow, that percentage will remain constant for any piece I color. Since every formulation, no matter who can make it, is ultimately the mathematical equation, whether it is rendered in proportions or 1/16 teaspoons - doing work in percentages broadens your ability to apply that formulation in any circumstance.

I additionally use percentage dimension to determine how much dyestock to make use of to produce the value I would like. It is generally known that 1% dye to the weight of the made of wool will produce a moderate value for most shades, and it is also well-known which doubling the amount of dye on the wool with each value produces a gradation that takes the color coming from light to darker in 6-8 jumps (this can be, in effect, what the 'jar method' accomplishes). So one good option for producing 6 values, (working to the outside from the medium worth at 1%) is to use: .125%, .25%, .5%, 1%, 2%, as well as 4% (although 3% produces a colour nearly as dark, with less coloring). Some time spent trialing ideals will give you a further advancement that you like, and this progression will work for most color formulas that you use, except, perhaps, formulas which are mostly yellow : a slightly more soaked progression is needed right now there.

Once I know what method I want to use, as well as what value I wish to make it, the only remaining question is how much of the total formula to mix upward, and I determine this by weighing the made of wool to be dyed, as well as doing some basic information. Follow me via a sample calculation, and find out if you can make sense than it:

Let's say I have 100 grams of made of woll (about yard), and that i want to dye that to a medium benefit in a 90% red / 10% yellow formula. Because a 1% ratio regarding dye-to-wool produces a medium worth, and I already use a 1% dyestock solution, equal elements of dyestock and wool will certainly, therefore, produce the actual medium value which i want, since One hundred ml of 1% dyestock will certainly deposit 1% dye onto the wool. Once I understand that I need 100 ml of dyestock, I multiply that amount times the percentages inside the formula. So I will certainly mix 90 milliliter red and 10 ml yellow for this example.

Here is another illustration, for dyeing 300g wool with a dark value at a 3% dye factor, employing a formula containing 70% red / 10% yellow / 20% blue:

300g (wool) Times 3 (dye aspect) = 900 ml dyestock
70% X 900 Equals 630ml red 10% X 900 = 90ml yellow 20% X 900 = 180ml azure

(Notice that we don't increase the weight of the made of wool by 3 percent, yet by 3. The reason being the percentage symbol expresses the amount of dye powder as a percentage of the particular dyestock that we need to get the worth we want, but in the equation we are calculating the amount of dyestock itself to utilize, which is exactly One hundred times the amount of coloring itself. Using % in the equation might divide the final answer by 100, which would be incorrect. Therefore dropping the pct sign and using the number alone is simply a quick way to getting the correct response.)

Have you heard the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him or her for a day. Teach a man to bass and you feed your pet for a lifetime" This is, essentially, what I am doing. Rather than saying, "here is really a formula that will coloring 1 yard regarding wool", I am showing you how to assemble boiler-plate formulas and equations that will take you where ever you want to go whenever dyeing, and with relative relieve once you are used to that. Don't let the math frighten you - it's all stuff we discovered in the fifth quality, and you ARE smarter than a fifth grader!

I could go into more detail the following (in fact there will be a book on this sometime in the long run) but for now I am just giving you the gist with the method. I will provide more help in future articles, so stay tuned in!
THE BENEFITS OF USING Fluid DYESTOCK Liquid dyestock is, undoubtedly, the most convenient method to dye wool. Although you may use pre-formulated colors, keeping dyestock in the colors you employ most will increase your dyeing -- you can head into the kitchen and color a few pieces easily. One of the great advantages of this method is that you'll require only produce dyestock from time to time, if you produce a honest quantity. For instance, 1,000 ml of dyestock will dye One,000 grams (about 2 1/2 yards) of made of woll to a medium worth, so if you produce Three,000 ml of each primary, (nearly the gallon) this will carry you through a fairly big project, or several smaller ones, even though you dye all your own wool. Once produced, your dyestock will keep for some time. Dyestock will, theoretically, previous indefinitely, given the top quality and sterility of the h2o you use, but for sensible purposes, ProChem says it will last a minimum of 6 months. If you dye regularly, there is not much threat of wasting lots of dyestock.

Using liquid dyestock will give you the kind of control necessary to dye small items with accuracy. Utilizing a 1-ml syringe (the type accustomed to deliver insulin) makes this possible. So when using several shades to produce a formula, tiny nuances in sculpt can be made. For instance, whites are very, very difficult to be able to formulate with accuracy, because tiny alterations in the red and also blue of a yellowish formula produce remarkable results. Working in declines, however, these good changes are quite possible, in fact there is a foreseeable mathematical progression of formulas in yellow that produces everything from near-green to near-orange, and every nuance in between.

Contrary to what you are able think initially, I've found this method to be a clean way to dye, specially when the dye powdered (nasty, messy products, in my opinion) spends usually in the cupboard. I take advantage of various-sized syringes and tiny graduated pitchers to furnish dyestock. Because the dyestock that I use is dilute, spills rarely cause a stain basically wipe them quickly, even on my oiled leather oak floors and also birch countertops. I use screw-top covers to store dyestock, and keep the actual lids screwed upon when not in use, and I pour larger amounts of dyestock on the sink to avoid huge accidents.
A FEW CAVEATS While using three primaries does have the limitations, but they are handful of. I have formulated several browns and greens using the three primaries, however, these colors will be more difficult to produce. Lots of stirring is required, and also the use of Glauber's salt obligatory to produce any kind of even result. Even then, your results may vary through batch-to-batch. If you are more fussy about your outcomes, you may prefer to make use of pre-formulated browns and blacks, and add a little of the primaries to adjust all of them.

I use ProChem dyes, and possess yet to experiment with some other brands, although I can guess that even if the overall results vary from ProChem dyes, those brands would certainly still behave incredibly, using the same methods.

I really hope this inspires you to try this method, that has worked so well for me. Here is the first in a number of articles on the subject, and in future articles I am going to provide more depth about the methods I use, including equipment (along with resources), working in proportions, setting up mathematical progressions associated with color formulas, how you can trial color samples, and the care and feeding of your dyestock.

area rugs To see the results of my personal many color trials, and the four divisions of color that I work in, (all colors produced using the three primaries), check out me:.