Neutrals, Tones, and Shades (Palette Dyeing)

In the past week I have been dyeing more wool to finish up my Palette Dyeing. I am learning Neutrals (equal amounts of complimentary colors), Tones (color plus grey), and Shades (color plus black). It is so exciting to see the colors that are created using the color palette that I chose. This is a picture of my Neutrals; two values of red and green, two of blue and orange, and two of yellow and violet. Each is so unique.

Next are my Tones. I used a yellow-green in value #2 with 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 tsp. of my grey dye mixture (grey dye used was Pro Chem Mouse Grey). The top swatch is the original color.

Here is what it looks like on my Color Rug.

Last are my swatches of Shade. I used value #2 of red-orange with 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 tsp. of my black dye mixture (Pro Chem Black). The first swatch is my original color.

Here is what it looks like in my rug.

I really thought that dyeing Neutrals, Tones, and Shades would be boring but I was quite surprised at the results. I really like the Shades and can see where it would add a lot of depth to hooking a rug.

Re-visiting Complementary Colors

When I hooked the Complimentary colors, I was wanting a better transition on my background from values 5 to 4 and 4 to 3. I decided to dye two more values of the blue-violet calling them values 4 1/2 and 3 1/2 to see if it would make a difference in the transitions. To figure how much formula of dye to use, I divided the difference in the measurements between the two values by half (the difference of value 5 and 4 was 1 tsp. of formula, half of that = 1/2 tsp.). My total amount of formula for value 4 1/2 will now be . . .
1 1/2 (value 4 amount) + 1/2 (the extra amount)= 2 tsp. Complicated unless you have done Palette Dyeing, but I'm pretty sure that I think I know what I think I'm doing. Anyway, to compound the confusion and just because I'm cheap, I wanted only to dye half of the amount of wool normally used for one value. So, now for my 4 1/2 value I will be using 1/2 the wool and 1/2 of the 2 tsp. = just 1 tsp. of blue-violet dye formula. Was it worth the trouble? I don't know, you tell me . . .


It was a fun experiment. Maybe it made a slight difference, but I would always wonder if I hadn't tried it out. And, it gave me something else to blog about.

Palette Dyeing

I am having so much fun doing the Palette Dyeing, I just wish I had more time in the day. I figure it takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours start to finish (dragging out all the dye paraphernalia, dyeing the wool, and putting it all away again) to dye one set. If I didn't have to cook I would try to do two sets. I am working on finding my favorite blue, red, and yellow so I can start my color wheel. Here is a yellow I tried . . . I'm not using it because it is too brown for me, but it made a beautiful palette. It would be great for Sunflowers!