I’m dyeing some thread this weekend, and I happened to think to snap pictures of the process. In the first photo, I’m in the middle of mixing the powdered dye with water, right to left. The color all the way to the left will, I hope, be a dark brown. I’m mixing a lot of black and a goodly bit of rust brown and crossing my fingers. The last time I tried to dye dark brown, I used a color called Chocolate Brown. The silk came out dark chile red, and the cotton was dark denim blue!

Some of the colors dissolve easily, and others take some work, especially at higher concentrations. Remember, always wear a mask and gloves! Click on photos to enlarge.

If all goes as planned, we will have, left to right, dark brown in silk and cotton, ivory/french vanilla in silk and cotton, red silk, yellow silk, blue silk, and the funky looking square is hand-painted variegated blues in cotton. Everything sits in the dye bath for a couple of days, and then comes the setting/rinsing marathon!