Week 5 lab data group 6: Dye

Introduction

This lab data consists of the combined efforts of lab groups 5 and 6, which included Tara Green, Edward Marotta, Claire Saunders, Bianca Lott, Linnea Williams, Luke Rowen, Brett Brzycki, and me. The lab itself happened over two separate days since we had to mordant the wool as a preparatory step to dyeing. The second day, we dyed the wool at Get Bentz farm and got to see the animals we have been studying for the past 5 weeks.

Process

The first day, we used aluminium sulfate to mordant the wool, which improves the color and durability of the dye. This process involved calculating the amount needed, which was between 12-20% total wool weight, which ended up being between 24.12-40.20g. We went on the heavier side and used 40g.

We tried to hit a target temperature of 160°, but we had trouble hitting this number. It seemed not to have a massive effect on the wool, as it all came out a nice shade of brown. It should be noted that they stayed in the water until around 4 pm.

The next day, we traveled to Get Bentz farm for the actual dyeing process. This started with us being shown the different types of natural dye materials. Our group chose walnut, which required much less attention as the temperature didn’t need to be very specific for a good result, which is why there is lots of fluctuation. We would take the pot off the fire whenever it started to boil over and put it back on when it cooled a significant amount. We wrapped some of the balls of our spun wool around spoons, and some we left in balls.

The pot was put over the fire at 2:13 and removed at 3:24 for a total time of 71 minutes. I took the temperature several times throughout in case something went wrong. The walnut dye didn’t require a specific temperature range, but it had to be kept hot.

This whole process was relatively relaxed, and most people just sat around or did other things while the wool was being dyed. There was plenty of time to work on other things, and while some groups had to control their pots’ temperature more closely, there was still plenty of time to relax.

(Left to right: Roving fibers, professionally spun string, Taras wound balls of string, Tara and Brett spoon-wrapped string)

The next day, we did a final wash of the wool, where we could see the real color the dye had developed. I wasn’t able to re-weigh the wool since it was still wet. The wool was a nice light peanut-like brown, and all the types of wool we dyed came out in relatively similar shades of brown.