Dyeing Wool w/ Food Coloring & Koolaid- Rainbow & Transition

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VixenSingsBlack
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Dyeing Wool w/ Food Coloring & Koolaid- Rainbow & Transition

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:39 am

LOTS of dyeing tutorials for wool! If you've used any of these techniques for your dreads, please share any pics you have of the finished product or the process of dying.

Video on how to dye with Koolaid.

How to use food coloring/koolaid to dye unfelted wool--> kind of general, not too step by step

Step by step direction on using food coloring to dye unfelted roving

Another dyeing with food coloring, this time on wool yarn

More food coloring on unfelted wool

Excellent tut on dyeing yarn with Wilton's Icing Food Coloring; it may be yarn, but same option should apply to felted dreads. Includes details on transition dying!

Fantastic tut with MULTIPLE methods on rainbow dyeing

Wilton food dye advanced color mixing chart

How to combine Food Coloring and Kool-Aid to make different colors! Really great :)


____________________________________________________
In addition to the above tuts, I've made up my own short tut without pictures. Basically my tut is an assembly of the reading and re-reading of the tuts from above.

#1 Soak the dreads for half an hour in a water/vinegar mixture. 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar.

#2 In a see through container with water, get your food coloring to the right color you want (especially if you're mixing food colorings).

#3 Put food coloring mix into pot on stove and begin heating to a boil.

#4 After the half hour of pre-soaking, squeeze out the dreads and plunk them in your boiling dye.

#5 Now add enough water to cover the dreads, turn the stove to warm.

#6 Stir stir stir! (I didn't do this, hence the splotchyness below.)

#7 When water is clear, take dreads out of hot water and let cool in bowl.

#8 Rinse in tap water that's the same temp as the dreads until water runs clear.

TADA! Dyed roving. It sounds more complicated than it is...


Image

____________________________________________________

FAQ:
#1 Tanya.lou asks: "Would you be able to use the food colouring method on already felted undyed roving/dreads?"
Jane Doe answers: "Yep, and it certainly works a treat. "

I know that these tuts do not directly apply to our felted dreadlocks, but I think any of them would be able to be translated to felted dreadlocks. Also, it is of course totally feasible to pre-dye your roving before felting into dreads.

For instance: I want white dreads with a watercolor like purple stripe in the middle. What do I do? Well precut your roving into the appropriate length strips and paint dye them like the rainbow dyeing method. Then, when you go to felt them, the purple will already be in the middle. TADA!

#2 Question: Where do I get these food dyes?
Answer: You can usually start local by checking the supermarket. Food dyes are usually kept either by the spices or by the cake supplies. Most supermarkets will supply basic colors--blue, yellow, green, red. If you want more colors, stop by a shop which you know sells massive amounts of cake supplies. Often times party supply stores and wedding stores will stock a large range of food colorings. Still can't get what you want? Go online! Click here to buy direct from Wilton food colorings! Very nice color selection. Also don't forget that these colors are easy schmeezy to blend and create new colors :)

#3 Question: But how do I dip dye my already felted dreadlocks?
Answer: You will need to build a scaffolding from a coat hanger and books to keep the dreads up out of the dye mixture. (Bad illustration follows.) With this method you could get an awesome graded affect by starting with most of the dread in the pot and then adding books to the sides so the dread slowly raises up. The parts in the pot the longest will be dark, and the parts in there the least amount of time will be very light.
Image

NOTE: If anyone has used these tuts and has pics to share let me know and I'll stick them up here--please describe your method too so we can know. Also, if you have any tips/hints about how to mix the food colorings for desired in between colors (like turquoise, mint green, fuschia, pumpkin, etc) please please please let us know!

Food Dye Mixes Chart:
Monster Flesh Green = 14 parts yellow to 3 parts green (click here to see picture)
Kelly Green = 5 parts green to 1 part blue (click here to see the color)
Orange = made from Wilton's paste "Orange" color (click here to see the color)
Pumpkin = made from Wilton's paste "Ivory" color; heavy use (click here to see color)
Baby Blue = made from generic, liquid, dropper "Blue" color; two drops only (click here to see color)
Last edited by VixenSingsBlack on Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:47 am, edited 7 times in total.

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by CancerHybrid » Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:51 am

wow! thanks for posting that!
*Manda*

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Bittersweet12 » Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:18 pm

Very interesting indeed!
Thank you for posting ^_^

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Tanya.Lou » Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:35 pm

Thank you for posting this.
Would you be able to use the food colouring method on already felted undyed roving/dreads?

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Jane Doe » Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:16 pm

Tanya.Lou wrote: Would you be able to use the food colouring method on already felted undyed roving/dreads?
Yep, and it certainly works a treat.
These were kool-aid created
Image
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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Tanya.Lou » Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:36 am

Thank you, im glad it works on felted dreads as im a bit weary of trying it for the first time on roving that hasnt been felted yet.
And those look lovely and the colour looks so evenly distributed
You do amazing things with wool/natural fibers anyways.

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by kezerb » Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:28 pm

I've just bought some white roving that I want to dye in blue to white transitionals.
I figured the best method would be over a boiling pot but I want the middle to be blue not the tips if you get me? What would be the best method for this?

EDIT: Thought above made no sense. What would be the best method of dying just the middle with the boiling pan method?
Tie the ends together and hang over a pole?
Last edited by kezerb on Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Tanya.Lou » Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:08 pm

Ok so iv just thought of another question.
now i know you have to soak the roving before you dye it when its unfelted but if youre going to dye it when you've already felted it into dreads
do you still soak it first or not?
thanks in advance


oh also would this be ok for felting into dreads?

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Miffy » Sun Nov 30, 2008 8:26 am

kezerb wrote:I've just bought some white roving that I want to dye in blue to white transitionals.
I figured the best method would be over a boiling pot but I want the middle to be blue not the tips if you get me? What would be the best method for this?

EDIT: Thought above made no sense. What would be the best method of dying just the middle with the boiling pan method?
Tie the ends together and hang over a pole?
You've answered your own question here ;) You can use something like a chopstick to hang them on.

@ Tanya.Lou: I do soke my pre felted dreads as well as unfelted roving in medium warm water with a bit of vinegar before dyeing. I find that it takes the dye a lot better that way.
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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Tanya.Lou » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:42 am

Thank you miffy,
I thought so but i just wanted to make sure.

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by kezerb » Sun Nov 30, 2008 5:08 pm

Thanks Miffy :) Just wondered if that's suitable for making transistionals :)

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:14 am

Jane Doe wrote:Yep, and it certainly works a treat.
These were kool-aid created
Jane Doe: What kind of wool are those dreads in that picture? I notice that they have the lovely "rippled" look to them. I really like this, but the ones I've been experimenting with come out super smooth like sticks. I've 'heard' that different wools have different ripple-effects. So, what kind of wool did you use for those?

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by MrsEss » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:05 pm

Tanya.Lou wrote: oh also would this be ok for felting into dreads?
i used that roving to make my black dreads & it was a nightmare to felt - i think i did it about 8 or 9 times. i've worn them twice & refelted when i took them out
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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:37 pm

The first thing I ever felted with was Corriedale and it went OK. I had to felt 3 times though. Keep in mind tho, it was my first time felting, so maybe twice if you're pretty good.

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by °«Belle»° » Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:24 pm

I've got some roving dreads that I bought early this year from eBay but I'd like to re-dye them to match my natural hair. I've read some of the stuff from the links but I'm not sure if that'd work for my dreads.
Image
Image
They're white in the middle with light blue ends. I always keep the beads on so I'm not worried about the bits underneath not getting dyed. My hair is dark brown so I'd like the middle to match and the ends to be turquoise. I tried to dye one with manic panic atomic turquoise a long time ago but it failed miserably! I didn't soak it in vinegar just made it damp and slapped some dye on to see what would happen. Is it possible to use hair dyes on roving? I'm a complete dunce when it comes to wool so any help would be much appreciated! Thanks x
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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:56 am

Hmmmm... I'm not so sure about hair dyes and roving... certainly the method could not be done the same.

For those dreads I think you could probably get what you want, the turquoise would wind up being pretty blue since the light blue is already there. But what you'd need to do is dip dye the white parts into a brown dye made with food coloring and vinegar (just follow the tutorials). Let them dry completely. Then dip dye the light blue parts in a turquoise dye made with food coloring and vinegar (again, follow the tuts).

You should be good to go. And I don't think hair dyes will work on wool the same as they do on human hair since the actual build and folicles of the two are completely different.

G'luck :i23:

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by °«Belle»° » Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:45 pm

VixenSingsBlack wrote:G'luck :i23:
Cheers m'dears! I'll make the turquoise more greeny than I want so that the blue will level it out. Fingers crossed! I'll do a few test ones and let you know how I get on.
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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by Squidgy » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:48 am

wicked links thanks VixenSingsBlack.. they will all be really helpful for me in the coming weeks.. am very excited about dying some wool for the first time. xxx :i2:
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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by saramurphy » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:37 pm

Thanks for the dip dye tut! I think i love you XD ive been looking for one everwhere... well google. XD

Also, can you only get kool aid in red? i thought kool aid was a drink? hahaha!

After you've dyed already felted dreads do you have to like re felt them? Rolly rolly?
or just hang them to ddry?

xxx
Sara x

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by saramurphy » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:38 pm

Image
How do you get roving crinkle like this? I dont want it smooth, i love them like this.
Do you do anything inparticular.

Also is it impossible to get wavey otr curly roving dreads?

So curious XDXDXD
Sara x

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:14 am

saramurphy wrote:Thanks for the dip dye tut! I think i love you XD ive been looking for one everwhere... well google. XD

Also, can you only get kool aid in red? i thought kool aid was a drink? hahaha!

After you've dyed already felted dreads do you have to like re felt them? Rolly rolly?
or just hang them to ddry?

xxx
Koolaid is a powdered mix that you combine with water and sugar to make a flavored, sugary drink. In order to make it look enticing, Koolaid has a lot of food color in it. Hence why it is a convenient thing to use for dying dreads. Koolaid now comes in a variety of flavors and colors--several reds (strawberry, cherry, black cherry), several greens (lime, watermelon), blue (blue raspberry), and purple (grape)--plus pink (pink lemonade) and yellow (lemonade).

If you felt your dreads then dye them, felting again should not be necessary. All you do is dye, rinse, and let dry.

Hope that helps!

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by XpaperclipX » Sun Mar 01, 2009 10:43 am

is it possible to dye roving with hair dye?
I'll be using something like sfx or manic panic.
It would be cool if the color would match the one i dye my hair

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:55 pm

In general, using human hair dye on wool is a no-no. BUT because temp dyes like manic panic and sfx are really only pigment you MAY be able to make it work. Follow the directions above, but replace food dye with manic panic/sfx. Let us know how it works out... I might try this as well just for kicks.

In theory it should work! Just like you can dye wool with coffee or tea or juices or onion skins.

Let us know! If you get good/bad results please post pics so we know :)

EDIT!!!
I gave Manic Panic a shot. It SUCKED. Don't waste your time. All the dye rinsed out. I think the conditioners in the Manic Panic keep the dye from absorbing. Stick to food coloring or wool dyes. Sorry.

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by XpaperclipX » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:25 am

aww too bad :(
now i have to go buy food coloring :lol:

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Re: Dyeing Wool Roving: Many Methods, Including Rainbow Dying

Post by OrangeMicol » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:00 pm

something ive been interested in is how to dye wool roving UV colours- you dont see much UV wool around. so i did a search came across the dyeing site of Paula Burch,

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml

about using fluorescent dyes on wool she says:

"Aljo Mfg. in New York sells some fluorescent dyes among their "Silk and Wool Dyes", including Fluorescent Rhodamine B, Fluorescent Blue G, Fluorescent Violet, and Fluorescent Flavine Yellow. They are the only US source I know of for blue and violet fluorescent acid dye. Presumably you can mix a fluorescent yellow and a fluoresent blue to get a fluorescent green. You can see what they sell on their web site, but you will have to call on the phone to order.

PRO Chemical & Dye, one of my favorite dye suppliers, sells Rhodamine B and Flavine Yellow among their WashFast Acid Dye series. I don't think they have fluorescent blue, green, or violet dyes, though they do have fluorescent pigments and fabric paints.

Another extremely popular supplier of dyes, which carries some fluorescent acid dyes, is Dharma Trading Company. They are easier to buy from than Aljo. Dharma's acid dyes are made by Jacquard Products. Their #620 Hot Fuchsia is Rhodamine B, the same fluorescent hot pink as from Aljo and ProChem. They used to list #627 Brilliant Kelly Green and #628 Chartreuse as being fluorescent, but no longer list them as such; the formulas for these two dyes may have changed. They also sell a 'Fluorescent Yellow Dye', possibly Flavine Yellow, that works only on nylon and on protein fibers. No fluorescent blue or violet, unfortunately. Fluorescent yellow is also available in the new all-purpose dye being marketed by Jacquard Products as "iDye"; Dharma is the first place I've seen that carries this line of dye.

You can also buy fluorescent dye for whites. It is invisible under visible light but pops with a bright blue-white under ultraviolet light. It's a common additive in laundry detergents; you can also buy it as Rit Whitener & Brightener, and as Dharma Trading Company's Optic Whitener. You get a lot more of the product in the latter, since it is not packaged with salts and other fillers as the Rit product is.

Dylon used to sell a "UV Fluorescent Fabric dye", but not in the US, I think. It's sold in the UK; see GlowShop.com. The colors are numbered 63 yellow, 64 green, and 65 pink. They are expensive because each tiny tin contains only enough dye to dye eight ounces of dry fabric.

You should also consider fabric paint. It is not dye, but can sometimes be used like dye. It wears off much more quickly, since it sits on the surface of the fiber, but has the advantage of working on many synthetic fibers, in addition to natural fibers and untreated nylon. There are always many different colors of fluorescent fabric paint available, from ProChem, Dharma, and other suppliers. Particularly worthy of note among the different types of fabric paint are the fluorescent fabric markers, which Dharma, among other suppliers, sells. There are occasions when a small detail can be done best with a marker."

Thanks Paula! hope this is useful stuff- check out her site because its a fantastic resource!
as an additional note, glowshop.com is no longer open (i checked).

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