Thursday, February 21, 2008

It's done! I dumped the dyes into some nifty anti-spill kids paint buckets and stuck my brushes out of the top. I started with the swatch and did several different color combinations. I then did a quick heat set on it (which obviously was too quick, it came out very light ) but I got the gist of what I wanted to do. I consulted my peacock photos and decided which was the best set of color combinations.

So I put a big sheet of painter’s plastic drop cloth over my table. Pulled out a gazillion feet of saran wrap and tossed the shawl on to it, sprayed it with water and just started painting. Here it is part way through. As I finished a section I saturated it with a vinegar/water solution from a spray bottle and then rolled it up in the saran wrap. Then I laid out some more saran wrap, moved the shawl over and painted some more. It took a long time. I worked on it, for about 45 minutes in the afternoon then had to set it aside. I came back and worked on it from 10:30 pm – 1 am. Then I rolled it up in its saran warp skin and stuffed it in a colander to steam over a pot of water all covered in foil. I left it over the steam to set for an hour then, I rinsed it and sent it through the spin cycle. Blocked it and left it to dry. There you have one hand painted Pretty as a Peacock shawl. It was dyed using 6 colors of Jacquard liquid silk/wool dye: Virdian Green, Marine Green, Royal Blue, Kelly Green, Cyan, and Apricot.

And I still had time to do 12 more rows of my Revontuli. By the way the Kauni yarn kind of sucks. There is tons of debris in the yarn, bits of straw and hay, strings, garbage, and weeds actually spun into the wool and dyed! I have never seen such a mess before. It is like the wool right off the sheep without being well combed or carded. Bummer, because it looks awesome.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning. I met you briefly while you were walking around with Teenuh last night but didn't get the chance to compliment you on it.

hakucho said...

Heard about your shawl from Teenah...well I must say it is stunning!! and she says it's even more impressive in person :)

happy knitting :)

Anonymous said...

That's beautiful! I love the colors.

KnittyGirl said...

OMG I am sooooooo jealous!!! It is gorgeous!!!!

Jordan McCollum said...

That's gorgeous!!

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

That is just stunning! I think it would be so nice to have the ability to take a picture and create someting so similar. Just amazing.

Unknown said...

Oh. Wow. I applaud you Great Bravery and Gorgeous Result! Congratulations.

Juls said...

you are a crazy, mad scientist with the dye! Nice work.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful results - congratulations on such a gorgeous shawl

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable. I'm in awe!!!!
Happy Knitting,
fiberholic

Anonymous said...

Fabuloso! I have painted some sock yarn, but this is just really outstanding. How very brave you were to try doing it. May you wear it for many years.

The Grand Duchess said...

I'm researching the PAAP shawl, and yours has got to be the most GOR-JESS I have seen!!!!!!!!! WOW! Wish I knew more about knitting lace, and handpainting and heat setting!!!!!

AMAZING! STUNNING!