Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

Dyeing to know what’s missing

Last summer I did quite a bit of dyeing with Drimarene K dyes. I love everything about these dyes except their price tag. I always had excellent results using these dyes.

So this time around I’m trying Procion simply because they’re a fraction of the price. I’m now getting mixed results and am not happy with it all. The colours are strong (I make them strong because I like it that way) but lack the vibrancy of the Drimarene K items I’ve previously done.

I dyed some Stella for the first time this week when I made shorts for the girls. I think I oversaturated and lost definition in the designs. A lesson for next time.
Maybe I’m not combining the right colours? For example, the yellow I have is a golden yellow which is almost an orange – my next order will be for lemon yellow.
Another distorted design and way too mottled for my liking. The good news is the girls think they’re wonderful and want to wear them a lot so all is not lost.
I also made a top for the boy that I dyed with the immersion technique (very carefully) that came up really disappointing. To be specific, it looks like an older and worn top rather than brand new and vibrant. I’ve trawled information to find what may be wrong – the only thing I can think of is the curing temperatures may be a little low as the weather hasn’t really warmed up yet.
I know other dyers get great and vibrant results with Procion, so there must be something amiss with what I’m doing.
Any suggestions?
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