Alpaca & Beet Experiment

After many attempts, we could not get a dye with the beets.  We were able to obtain a stain but once the wool was rinsed, it turned yellow.  Okay let me reword that.  We could not get at red dye from the beets.  We used iron as our mortant.  If you would like, try different mortant with the beets.  You will achieve various shades of yellows and greens.  The beet consentrate we used was Dr. Schoenenberger Red Beet Crystals. 

The manufacturer makes health claims that I neither agree nor deny but for our purpose of dying red, it was a bust.  We also used fresh beets with the same results.  So save yourself some bucks if you want to try this experiment and use fresh beets.

Madder is traditionally used to make red.  As you know from our previous episodes, my madder is too young to use right now.  I will have to search for a "sacrifical" plant, in order to conduct the experiment.

I am trying to get a good picture of the felt so you can see how soft the alpaca felts.  Just in case there are some listeners who have never seen an alpaca, this is what they look like.

If you want to play along, contact us to receive your free 1/2 ounce kit.

Our intro to the show is Arabia by Briareus and our post show music is Africana by 1000psi from the Pod Safe Music Network.

Columbia Sheep & Walnut Dye

The long awaited podcast is finally up. It took longer than I expected. I had to get the hang of the new software that came with the mic. It made editing sooo slow since I had to constantly refer to the manual, which did not come with it. I hope you enjoy it.

Your feedback is always welcome. If you have a specific fiber or process you would like us to discuss, please feel free to drop us a line. We also have a forum on Ravery its VonStrohm Quilting & Fiber Studio.

Show Notes:

Columbia Sheep Study Kit

The study kit for this lesson comes in 8 oz or 2 oz.

The 8 oz kit includes:

8 oz of raw Columbia wool

Information about the breed

Lavender sachet

Walnut for dyeing

Dye bath instructions

Mordant recipes

Soapwort & instructions

Acid reactive dye & instructions

Sample wool wash

Spinning suggestions

The 2 oz kit includes:

2 oz of raw Columbia wool

Information about the breed

Choice of either commercial or natural dye stuff

Commercial or natural wool wash

Kits can be purchased at http://www.vonstrohmquiltingfiber.com/, click on "Play Along."

This is the black Columbia wool. Notice the sun damage to the tips. It's difficult to see in this photo but the fuzzy look of the wool is the crimp.

The mordant I use is an Alum-Tartar. I add the mordant to the dye bath prior to adding the wool. You can also pre-mordant your wool as we spoke about. After cleaning your wool place it in a mordant bath, allow it to air dry then store it in a breathable container. This is my favorite mordant bath.

Alum-Tarter Mordant

3 oz Potassium Alum

1 oz Cream of Tarter

4-6 Gallons of Water

Lavender Cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

1/4 C superfine sugar plus extra for dusting

1 tsp chopped lavender leaves

rine of 1 lemon

1 C all-purpose flour

• Preheat the oven to 300*F (150*C), grease a large cookie sheet. Place the superfine sugar and lavender leaves in a food processor. Process until the lavender is very finely chopped. Add butter and lemon rind and continue to process until light and fluffy. Transfer to a large bowl. Sift in the flour and mix until the mixture forms a stiff dough.


• Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Put another sheet on top. Roll out to 1/4 inch (5 mm). Remove top sheet and stamp 2 1/2 inch (6 1/2 cm) circles. Re-knead and re-roll trimmings and stamp out more cookies.


• Transfer the cookies to greased cookie sheet. Prick them with a fork and back for 12 minutes or until brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Note: You can mix the dough by hand if you don't have a food processor. Knead it into a ball before rolling out the dough.