Looking Even Farther Ahead

I haven't even finished winding onto cones the skeins of warp yarns for the next Water Series scarves, and already the warp after that is calling. Mostly because I have a big backlog of wood chips taking up real estate in the studio bathroom, waiting to become wonderful colors on yarn for a Wood Series project.

Here is the array of jars of chips (and a few other substances) soaking in denatured alcohol:



Some of these jars have been waiting patiently since we moved - well over a year ago now. No matter, there's still color in there!

Yesterday, I added to the array of jars, because DH had been turning candlesticks from California Pepper wood, and also made some bowls from a red-hued wood similar to Bloodwood. Maybe not the same species as bloodwood, but the chips were a lovely color. So I filled a couple of spare lidded containers with chips and poured in the alcohol:



You can see here how red those chips are. Well, no sooner had I re-capped the alcohol container and put a spoon into the jar of red chips than the liquid had already turned an incredibly rich color. This is perhaps 30 seconds after I poured the alcohol into the jar:



This will dye a color similar to madder - I may never have to buy madder chips again! The liquid in the jar of pepper chips didn't turn colorful as quickly. Today, it was a lovely amber but still quite pale. I've never dyed with it before, so I don't know how much color (or what hue) will come out of it.

One of the things I have found about dyeing with colors extracted from wood chips is that the color of the liquid isn't necessarily the color that will bond with the yarn. Some of what you see in the liquid turns out to be fugitive, with no intention of forming a permanent attachment to fiber. It looks one hue in the dyepot, and another when the yarn is washed.

Ah, the adventure of the dyepots!