Red comes from bugs

One of the things I enjoy the most is dying, more so if its with natural dyes. A few days back I used a kit from Prochemical to dye with Indigo.

Here is what I ended up with (the picture of the blue fiber alone kept coming up too washed out, it worked best when the camera had the white to set the balance):



This past weekend I dyed with Cochenille bugs. You crush the dry bugs with a coffee grinder, put them in a little bag (an old nylon stocking), bring to boil, add cream of tartar, boil, add tin, boil again. The recipe said to boil the fiber.....I think not! the risk of felting the whole thing is too much. The final color depends on the amount of bugs, and the fiber. You can see how the different fibers take color different. The brightest is wool, the next shade down Kid Mohair and the lightest is silk.



There are 8 ounces in all, it will be blended and carded. Then it will sit around until it speaks up and tells me what it wants to be.