dye oddity

had a great time with my visiting friend. we had known each other for 8 years through the wonders of internet and we finally  met. she was also responsible for putting my friend Holly and i in contact, a fact  for which i'll never be thankful enough.

she came along with a goodie bag and one of the goodies was madder extract- the chocolate will be the topic of another post :)

consequently, yesterday instead of doing errands i took to the dye pot. i was part fascinated part terrified by the dyeing  instructions which stated, contrary to all common knowledge, that the dye had to boil in order to give red.they then proceeded to illustrate the temperature rise gradient- sharp rise in 20 minutes to 100ºC   to be kept at that level for 80 minutes. then sharp drop to 40º. the yarn was supposed to stay in the pot and cool off.

now if those aren't instructions for the industry... how am i supposed to achieve the sharp  temperature curves in my kitchen scenario? play by ear, never mind the temperature gradients, but get a boil.

the literature said that  boiling  would bring out the red  and the lower the temperature the orangier the dye would be. i used a solution  of 2 teaspoons (10ml) in 5-6 liters of water with alum mordanted materials.they also recommend a higher alum concentration than what is usually recommended, thus i proceeded.

as you can see from  the photo they know their business.

the left hand side skein is silk at a low temperature, the middle skein is a thicker more lustrous silk at full boil and on the right a wool shawl, the one with the madder overdyed with GORK.

the redder silk is actually somewhat redder.

there was some remaining dye in the pot and i put another silk skein in then let it cool in the pot.i am checking on the color and will transfer it to a sunny spot in the terrace today.this dyeing session has been very interesting and fruitful. i have a feeling that the lower alum concentration i was using was partly responsible for my dyeing woes. 
here is  a madder extract convert. yes sir!

neki desu
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