Quantity of acid dye?

ClaireUK · Quantity of acid dye?

On the Ashford site it says that a 10g pot of dye will be enough for 1kg of wool.

Is this an acurate estimate to work with? I am trying to work out how much dye I will need to dye 10kg of merino rovings.

Also, any ideas where I can buy some white distilled vinegar? My local shops and Tesco dont seems to sell it, only the malted kind.

Thanks, Claire UK

cledry yarner

I get my vinegar from the veg shop as they sell it for making pickled onions. However, I've bought the white, distilled malt type from Morrisons and it's worked fine.

Re the measurements, I use 1g of dye to 100g of wool ( so, the same as Ashford suggest) The only thing that will happen if you use too much is the wool won't absorb it so you can use it again.

10kg of rovings? Are you making a yurt? Laughing

ClaireUK

No, though I would like to!!!!!

I am trying to work out if it is financially feasable to dye and sell rovings.

At the moment its not looking too promising Confused

Claire UK

jadeandchrissy

Claire,
it would depend on where you were getting your rovings, to even think about it being profitable you need to be buying it wholesale direct from the supplier, otherwise there is hardly any if any at all to be made, then of course you need to look into the inland revenue issues even if you are only going to be making a small profit you need to be a registered business / sole trader to make it legal
Chrissy

ClaireUK

Any ideas on where I can find a Merino Rovings wholesaler? I have googles - but no luck so far - unless I am missing something obvious.

The only thing I have come up with so far is Wingham Wools but I would have to buy 40Kg at once to make it profitable Shocked

Claire UK

jadeandchrissy

I have no idea at all, I have never looked at rovings, but what you need is to find out where wingham wool works gets their rovings
Chrissy

natalie

Twist fibrecraft re bag their Ashford dye, so you can get a 10g self seal bag, for £1.90 plus the cost of the stamp, which is cheaper than the little pots.
I just bought 50g of pink.... can't imagine why... Very Happy

natalie

ClaireUK

Thanks, but I still dont know if 10g will dye 1kg of rovings Confused

Any ideas?

Claire UK

cledry yarner

Craftynotions do 10 kilo 'bumps' of undyed ethical merino for £100.

That's extremely good value and it's really nice wool - no chemicals on the sheep etc and no mulesing!

http://craftynotions.com/dhfbumps.htm

ClaireUK

Ignore that, just re-read Cledry yarners reply ....having one of those days Embarassed

Right super-sleuths - any ideas how I find out where Wingham wools get their rovings?I can hardly ring up and ask (at least, I dont hink I can???)

Claire UK

jadeandchrissy

I know when I was searching for undyed hanks of pure wool I ended up trawling the streets and asking here there any everywhere untill I found the right place
Chrissy

natalie

You could try asking a business advisor at your local business gateway type place... or getting someone else to do it if you can't get to them.
A while ago I was looking for woven labels for something and they came up with 8 pages of label makers in Scotland alone!

n

cledry yarner

ClaireUK

I dont know what to ask....any ideas? I dont want to be greedy, but I dont want to undervalue myself either.

Claire UK

natalie

I'm not surprised about other sellers not telling you where they get their stuff. It's the "fabric" of their business. They could have perhaps been more polite and just emailed back to say they couldn't reveal their suppliers.
I think it's a bit like someone saying to me, what brand of dye do you use? Okay so far, I'd tell them, but if it's then followed up by a query about what proportions I use to get a particular green or blue, then I'd have to say no.
At the moment I'm quite interested in dyeing laceweight yarn, but I wouldn't dream of ringing up another seller or dyer and asking them. They will have perhaps spent months sourcing possible suppliers, dyeing samples, knitting them up, or paying someone to do it for them. I don't think it's unreasonable for them to "hoard" that information very very well. After all, just look at how much effort Coca Cola go to to protect their recipe!

natalie

Kathy

OfF topic a bit here but my loom came from Wingham wool. If I could have purchased anywhere else I would have done. Customer service was appalling, their website is rubbish, horrific navigation and, I too had emails ignored. No excuse in this day and age, they take your money, (no cheaper than anywhere else) they should provide a decent service.
Craftynotions on the other hand are excellent with a good price for ethical rovings which they sell in bulk. Smile

natalie

I have to agree about their website, it's like something out of the dark ages. I suppose it's only a few years ago they were all like that, but I have never ordered because I can't find my way around.

n

jadeandchrissy

Claire, only you can decide what to charge but make sure you take into account everything you have spent, do you have a business venture scheme near you, mine is great they will give you one to one meetings and support all for free, there are also courses you can go on.
Chrissy

jadeandchrissy

can I also add that are you not better focusing aswell on your yarn swifts and spindles, ect, I think there is a good market for yarn swifts, could your Dh help you out and you could work it together
Chrissy

cledry yarner

Kathy

More and more in this day and age people want to know the source of any animal related goods they are purchasing. Craftynotions has no problem giving out this info as it's clearly detailed on their site with a link to the farm.

I'm sure it was you Cledry who first posted the link to Craftynotions, so thanks for that, they'll get my business too. Laughing

natalie

I think you are right about people wanting more information.
I tried really hard to find out about the environmental "status" of my dyes, but all anyone, from any of the selling companies would tell me is that they don't reveal manufacturers and Ashford said they have won environmental awards. I'm not that happy about dyes being shipped half way round the world, the Dye-miles are mega, but at least I know they are reliable, reputable and not made in a polluting factory in China, with dreadful workers rights.

n

Kathy

I suspect that Wingham make their own rovings and purchase their wool from the wool board in lorry loads. Here is a link to thier "about us" page which shows some of the equipment they use. http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/new_page_1.htm

I also suspect that they don't care where the wool comes from which is why they wouldn't answer the type of question Cledry asked.

Claire, what dye did you buy? Why don't you follow the instructions (assuming there are some) and dye a small amount of roving. You could then scale it up for costing which would give you an idea of what to charge. Also, have a look at other shops and see whats being charged. This would be better than buying a huge load of rovings initially, before you find out whether it would be profitable or not. Craftynotions will sell small amounts. Smile

ClaireUK

I havent bought anything yet Embarassed

I am still doing sums and working out how much time I really have (and energy) to get into dyeing commercially.

At the moment I am still using up my merino from Fibrecrafts and my steam-fix dyes from Rainbow silks.

I think it is very, very important to be ethical and ecological with my future suppliers too. I also try to recycle packaging etc. You ladies, and the downsizer site, are re-educating me. Very Happy

Thankyou so much Cledry for the craftnotions link. It has opened my eyes to a few more possibilities. The wood for our spinning tools - swifts, spindles etc - are all ecologically sourced so I must apply the same prinicpal to everything.

I was apalled to discover that one place selling hand dyed angora buys it from the UK, sends it to China to be spun, then sends it to scotland to be dyed!!! Madness!!! I wont be buying any angora Confused

Claire UK

natalie

I looked into recycled packaging too, but in the end I've gone for the bags I've got from a woman on ebay who is a mum working from home on the basis that I'm helping another small woman run business, and my yarn will arrive in good condition. I couldn't afford the risk that someone would end up with a soggy tangled mess on their doorstep. The bags have survived journeys to the US, Denmark and Norway as well as the UK.

n

Kathy

I think it's always going to be difficult for small businesses, providing an "ethical" product whilst still earning a living. Getting vibrant, bright colours with natural dyes is difficult I think (I've never done it so take other people's word for this) and Natalie produces lovely coloured yarns which sell well, that speaks for itself. Smile

I did find this site though, lovely stuff with natural dyes. http://www.shilasdair-yarns.co.uk/index.htm

ClaireUK

I bought some indigo dyed yarn from them and the dye came off all over my hands, clothes etc. Not knowing any better, I thought it just needed an extra rinse, and all the dye came out Shocked

I've been a bit wary of natural dyes ever since.

There I was with blue hands, blue settee and natural plain yarn....in fairness to Shilishader, it was several years ago and I never contacted them to query it. If I had they would probably have helped me out.

A lady I know - Jill Dreamweaver (Kellie) does re-enactments - Medevil ones - and her onion skin dyes fade in the sun Crying or Very sad

Such a shame cos they are beautiful when first done.

Claire UK

cledry yarner

After extensive research on my own part I found that natural dyes are no more ethical/environmentally friendly than synthetics. The heavy metal mordants used for natural dyeing can sometimes be more toxic than the synthetics, as can some of the plants used and any large scale company who is producing ethical clothing/yarns etc tends to go for the synthetic dyes for just that reason. It took me ages to trawl through endless sites on the net to find that it's pretty much 6 of one - half a dozen of the other. Personally I can't use natural dyes as they set off my chemical sensitivity whilst the synthetics don't - go figure as our freinds over the pond say Very Happy

ClaireUK

Phew, I feel better about using synthetic dyes now Confused

My brother used to run a printing firm. He said that recyling paper to printing quality used just as many harmful chemicals - bleaching againts, extra power etc, as 'normal' paper.

Its a dilemma. I just try to use less paper and stuff altogether. Think how much we save on paper by emailing and using these forums - not to mention pollution etc from transporting letters around Very Happy

Claire UK

cledry yarner

There was someone on radio 2 the other day saying plastic production was more environmentally friendly than paper production due to the use of mercury. It's a minefield and you can't do right for doing wrong. I do get a bit miffed when people turn their noses up at my yarn and say 'Oh they're not natural dyes then?' as if that makes them less environmentally friendly. I just smile and explain that I'm using the least toxic method I can find. Trouble is we're led to believe as consumers that if something has the word natural in it that it's somehow 'better'. It's not always the case. With n's sock yarn for example, I expect there's very little run off as she knows exactly the kind of effect she's looking for and will use the right amount of dye. Same with my rovings - I very rarely lose any dye out of the wool, so there's none going down the drain.

*takes a deep breath* Anyway! What I wanted to say was, it's the fibre reactice dyes that are supposed to be more eco friendly Smile