An Experiment in Dyeing or How I Learned to Paint

It all started when I got the bad news that things went terribly wrong with the Fall offering of Roving Art rovings and they were cancelled. I hadn't been aware of how addicted I had become to receiving these glorious skeins of wonderously colored rovings and all of a sudden my supply was stopped! What to do?
I started day dreaming about getting blank 'canvases' and trying my hand at painting some rovings myself. My mentor, Martie, generously offered the undyed rovings and offered tips on her process. I also found on my bookshelf the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel that is packed with instructions on dyeing and painting rovings for spinning. So, armed with these two fountains of information, I sent off to ProChem for a sampler pack of dyes and anxiously waited for their arrival, meanwhile reviewing all the info I had on hand.
The rovings and dyes arrived on the same day, a week ago Monday. I had to wait til Friday for the actual D-day, meanwhile I was gathering my supplies: vinyl gloves, extra wide plastic wrap, jars for mixing and storing dyes, etc.
At last the day arrived. With a face mask covering mouth and nose I felt like a mad scientist while I mixed the dyes which come in powdered form. Once the dye solutions were made and cooling I set about arranging one roving, pre-soaked, to receive the dye.

This is the result of the first attempt. I had intended to have a bit more yellow in this roving, however in a brainless moment I picked up the roving from the center, instead of keeping it nice and flat, and watched all my colors run together! Still I am please with the how it turned out. And I learned aLOT!! My respect for Martie's artistry, which was already very very high, jumped a hundredfold.
Next came steaming the package of roving to set the dyes, and the anxious hours while all was cooling before I could open the package, rinse carefully and see how the colors turned out. I guess it is because I'm heading to San Diego in November that I named this first roving "Dreaming of California Sunsets".

On Monday I repeated the procedure only this time the dyes were already in solution so it went faster, and came up with the roving you see at the top of the page. I named it "Morning Blush".

So now I am addicted to painting the roving with a desire to learn more and more, as well as spinning it and making beautiful lace shawls from the results.


Here is 'Dreaming of California Sunsets' on the wheel as a singles, soon to be plied, once I get the other half of the roving spun. Or perhaps I will ply it with one of the 'Morning Blush' singles??? Decisions, decisions! What I do know is that I will be sending off for more wool and more dyes soon!