Fiber foolery

I wasn’t going to do Fiber Friday this week, just because, but then as I was mordanting more yarn, I got to thinking: Will the metals in mordants affect acid dye in any way?

When it comes to alum, no, apparently not. Tin however, is a slightly different matter (left):

mordant1

Whereupon I promptly overdyed all three hanks just a little bit:

mordant2

6 thoughts on “Fiber foolery

    1. Originally they were white like the ones in the tree, then I did one without mordant, one with alum and one with tin in the same dye, you can see the result in the top photo. They were still wet, they were really a bit more pink/salmon, so, since they were so similar I decided to give each a different overdye.

      I don’t normally mordant yarn for acid dyeing, it was just a silly idea that I wanted to try.

      I meant to do another shot not in the bright sunlight, but then we lost internet for the rest of the evening.

  1. What an interesting experiment … I’d never have thought to mordant for acid dyes. Mind you I only usually use alum and iron, I don’t quite trust any of the other metal mordants given all my darn allergies and sensitivities, so I wouldn’t have seen much difference if I’d tried this.

    What are your plans for these yarns?

    1. I hope to find a new addiction in tapestry weaving at least on a small scale.

      I wouldn’t normally mordant for acid dyeing either, I just had a brain fart. šŸ˜‰

      I like tin for Madder, but other than that I’m moving away from the metals as well. I guess I’ll use it while I have it and then not get any more.

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