# Dyeing- Do any of you use a color wheel?



## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

I have been looking into buying one or to. I was just wondering if it helps you when mixing colors? I have a wonderful eye for color but some times getting there can be more trouble then it is worth. I know dyeing is not a exact science it can be hit or miss but maybe some help from the color wheel might get me closer to what I was looking at. I know the basic color wheel but there are some out there that are a bit better then just the basic. What are your feelings on this? Or do you see it in your mind ? Trial and error? I just started dyeing a little over a year ago have not really had a lot of ops but some times the colors just do not come out what I see in my head pretty though they are. I write out my notes so I have them and have a book for what I have done. Some times I think I could be a mad scientist at times rubber gloves and face mask. One day who knows I might build the perfect man ( perfect in my mind)or color. lol


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## wordancer (May 4, 2011)

That is a good question. While I'm not dying now, I see myself doing it in the future..but what been on my mind, is how much yarn could be wasted while figuring out "color". So I just did a search and this is the first item that caught my eye.
http://www.thewoolymasonjar.com/index.html


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## deenashoemaker (Nov 9, 2014)

I haven't used one, but lately I've produced 'muddy' colors and think a color wheel would help me.


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

wordancer said:


> That is a good question. While I'm not dying now, I see myself doing it in the future..but what been on my mind, is how much yarn could be wasted while figuring out "color". So I just did a search and this is the first item that caught my eye.
> http://www.thewoolymasonjar.com/index.html


That looks cool have to look into it.


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

I am looking at 2 wheels I will post them later. I wish the Companies who make the dyes came up with better charts they just say it is not a true science I know that but how about close.


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## Alpaca Farmer (Jan 19, 2011)

Sometimes it is great fun to be the "mad scientist". I don't use a color wheel at the moment. Haven't had any major disasters although sometimes it does not come out as I pictured it would. Still pretty and a great surprise,


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## Mercygirl76 (Dec 30, 2012)

What a neat idea, but it is expensive: $165 for the cards. What I like about it, though is that the measurements are in tablespons, tsp., etc rather than grams. More like cooking!!! 

I created my own palette. I measured and cut out a bunch of yarn in 4 grams increments, tying each mini-hank with a figure eight tie by the ends. Then I mixed a 1% DOS of primaries: in Dharma Lanaset dyes - red, blue and yellow (cool colors); also mixed up primaries in Dharma acid dyes - magenta, Caribbean blue and Sunflower Yellow. I soaked all the little hanks in an acid solution. I did the math, and for my experiment I determined how much dye it would take to dye one of my little hanks. I put each hank on some plastic wrap and applied various combinations of color totaling the amount if takes to dye one of those hanks. I marked each little plastic packet with a number to keep track of what the recipe was, and then heat set it. I use various of these packets to come up with my colors, following the recipe, but increasing the amount to correspond with the weight of goods. This has become my colorwheel.


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## deenashoemaker (Nov 9, 2014)

If I were dyeing white wool I could eye ball the colors pretty well. When I spin, it might be off white, yellow white, gray white, tanish white, even blueish white. It gets iffy to get great colors or should I say predictable color.


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

I thought it was a good idea but a bit pricey for me. I know what she did was a lot of work and I think she did a great job. I will do some of my own mad scientist projects to but have some fleeces I have to wash skirt and card before dyeing. I have some roving I will be dyeing this weekend so I will play and make notes.


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## inc1961 (Jul 15, 2015)

wordancer said:


> That is a good question. While I'm not dying now, I see myself doing it in the future..but what been on my mind, is how much yarn could be wasted while figuring out "color". So I just did a search and this is the first item that caught my eye.
> http://www.thewoolymasonjar.com/index.html


I use a colour wheel but it's a picture on the wall nothing special. Just to remind me of analogous colours etc.

The Woolley mason jar system, while the colour cards are excellent! Is simply based on the colour wheel.

Stock colours of primaries made up at the same strength and combined in measured increments to get the values within the colours. Basically mix red and yellow, red and blue, and red and yellow. The system is based on a book by April DConnick (Pallet dyeing) which adds a tiny amount of a common colour to each primary (about 1/10th of the amount of the other colours). Most people's pallets use a brown, Black or some such as the common colour. A common colour in each primary adds to the confidence that every colour you dye will go with every other colour you dye.

But again the wooley mason jar dyes colour cards are excellent. Check the price as I think that includes the dyes, spoons, scale etc.


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## Conchalea (Dec 30, 2013)

If you are asking about inspiration for colors that go together well, I look at nature. I have an old wooden fence & one morning after a rain the sun shown on it, highlighting the film of green moss & the various colors of the wood. I snapped some pictures & used those colors as my palette for some yarn dyeing experimentation. It came out really nice. If I can find the pix I will post them for you. I have many nature pix pinned on Pinterest that I use as ideas for combining colors-sunsets, sunrises, storms, & so on. I also pinned birds, tropical bugs & flowers for inspiration.


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## spins2knit (Jul 29, 2013)

Love your inspiration and yarn, Conchalea. 

Dharma Trading Co is one of my go-to sources. They have great idea pages as well as product pages. I like the color wheel, but it takes understanding the mix of colors, too and knowing what will happen when two colors are next to each other.

I tend to experiment and play. But I don't often feel the need to duplicate.


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## patinthehat (Apr 25, 2014)

As a watercolorist I must tell you that it can be very tricky to mix colors! Some blues lean yellow-green, some purple-red; mix the yellowish blue with a red that leans blue and you can easily go to mud! Mix same yellowish blue with red that leans toward orange and you may get an olive green! All depends on proportions, which dye the manufactorer is using and how they mix their colors. Some companies will make a lovely pure blue by mixing various blues together - by itself it looks great, but mixing will take some experimenting. Sometimes all you can do is seat of the pants flying!


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## spinninggill (Apr 9, 2011)

Sometimes the colours don't do what is expected at all, colour wheel or not! A friend gave me a bunch of beautiful purple flowers, so when they were past their best, I pulled off the petals and boiled them up - gorgeous purple liquor. Added copper sulphate, as that's good for purples in natural dyeing,popped in some wool & heated it. Allowed it to cool naturally and rinsed - a beautiful spring green!!!!


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## inc1961 (Jul 15, 2015)

spinninggill said:


> Sometimes the colours don't do what is expected at all, colour wheel or not! A friend gave me a bunch of beautiful purple flowers, so when they were past their best, I pulled off the petals and boiled them up - gorgeous purple liquor. Added copper sulphate, as that's good for purples in natural dyeing,popped in some wool & heated it. Allowed it to cool naturally and rinsed - a beautiful spring green!!!!


Yes natural dyeing and mordants is a whole different kettle of fish.

For commercial dyes. I use either prochem, or Majic Carpet dyes. Both are acid dyes and wool or nylon take these well.

Prochem has a true red, blue and yellow. 
Majic carpet has a true yellow and red. Blue tends to be blue violet (I think) and there is a red violet which gives you a different range again.


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

I have a florist/ garden design and design back ground I know the colors and how they are blended primary etc. I have used many inspiration pictures for my dyeing Like I said they do not always look like what I have in mind. Never a ops or a fail just not what I see. I know practice makes perfect but.....


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## Conchalea (Dec 30, 2013)

spins2knit said:


> Love your inspiration and yarn, Conchalea.
> 
> Dharma Trading Co is one of my go-to sources. They have great idea pages as well as product pages. I like the color wheel, but it takes understanding the mix of colors, too and knowing what will happen when two colors are next to each other.
> 
> I tend to experiment and play. But I don't often feel the need to duplicate.


Thank you. I'm always surprised by some color combination in my dyeing experiments. I began with cotton clothing in my high school chemistry classes. Each year we would spend an entire class period dyeing 1 item each kid brought in. Some combinations were prettier than others! I moved to dyeing silk at home & now wool. I like how super-washed wool takes the colors-not so much success with regular wool for me.


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## marianikole (Aug 29, 2011)

I don't use a color wheel and enjoy the unpredictability of putting colors together. Dying wool is more of an art vs. science for me


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## marianikole (Aug 29, 2011)

these colors are so beautiful. Love your inspiration, use nature as mine a lot as well. Usually works good


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## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

I have several but to be honest I never use them. I go by my gut and experience. Just play. The biggest challenge is not making mud and for that a colour wheel may come in handy


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## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

deenashoemaker said:


> I haven't used one, but lately I've produced 'muddy' colors and think a color wheel would help me.


A colour wheel can definitely prevent mud


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