The second try was much closer. Still not exact, because it's not quite a match in hue or value, but the saturation level is much closer. I think they'll blend just fine.
In the photo below, you'll be able to tell which is which...
Once I transferred the second skein onto a cone, and put the two cones next to one another, I'm happy with the outcome. Especially since this weft will only be used in the hems, so only about 1/2-inch will show at each end of the wrong side of the towel...
The value difference looks more dramatic in the photo than it is in real life.
The purple skein has been tucked back into the bin of miscellaneous fine cotton, labeled with grist, fiber content, and yardage. It's a lovely color, so it'll get used someday, just not today!
7 comments:
Great colors!
Do you have any "tricks" when winding cones? I have a setup similar to yours (but instead of wooden pieces, I use rubber bottle stoppers). I tried winding some 30/2 silk, and it went on the cone okay. But as I was winding a warp from it, loops of yarn (from inner layers) would come off the top of the cone. This made things messy, though I only had to cut the yarn a couple of times. Has this happened to you?
Hi, Matthew. I don't have any tips, except to not let the yarn get too close to the smaller end of the cone. Also, if you make sure to move the hand holding the yarn rapidly from one end of the cone to the other, there isn't a build-up of loops near the smaller end, so there's less likelihood it'll spool off prematurely. HTH, Sandra
good to see you were not abducted by NFL :)
pretty colors! i can dye silk with my eyes closed, but i think cotton is tricky to dye,
neki desu
Those are beautiful colors! I bet they will look gorgeous together! :)
Yikes, dyeing, a whole new world that I hadn't even thought of...
Hi Sandra,
Matching colours exactly is even tricky in the industry. Many years ago I worked in the dyelab of Ciba Geigy. When samples came in to be matched, I would put them through a computerized machine that would indicate the amount of red, blue and yellow in the colour. These numbers were then used by the technicians to calculate the amount of dyes to be used in the dyeing process and several variations were prepared. I then mounted the samples if they past the lab supervisor's approval and customers received samples based on best match, cheapest, etc. Some companies needed samples in various fibers that matched - e.g. for matching clothing items.
Glad the colours will work and usually in weaving a slight difference has more character, at least in my view,
Linda
Lovely blues. I've only had success once in matching colors, and I think it was more chance than anything. Still, sometimes a weaver just has to try!
As Neki says, with silk and acid dye it's fairly easy to match an existing color. Cotton is trickier, at least for me, because the dyepot doesn't always tell the truth. With MX dyes, what you see isn't necessarily what you get, and because there's such a dramatic value difference between wet and dry, it's even more of a challenge. But now that I've woven the hem of the first towel on this warp, I'm very happy with the weft color.
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