Many woolens in this rug were married recycled ones!
Wool comes in glorious colors, and some not so glorious colors! Don’t ever pass up a good piece of wool just because you don’t like the color. You want to constantly be building your stash of wool, and in time you may want to start overdying them to achieve exactly the colors you need for a project.
In the meantime, there are ways to change those ugly or not-quite-right woolens to get the colors you need for your hooking projects.
Marry Those Woolens
If you have several red pieces of wool and you need more than one red for a project, but the reds you have just don’t look good together, you can marry them! Here’s how:
Put all those pieces of wool into a pot of warm water with about 1 Tbls detergent. (You might want to save a little "before" piece of each wool for your records.) Put the pot on the stove and let it simmer (I usually go for about 20 minutes). The woolens will each release a bit of their dye, then all the dye colors in the solution blend together, so that the fabrics will become new shades that go well together. When a decent amount of dye is released into the water (or after at least 20 minutes in the pot simmering) you need to set those dyes back into the fabrics. Pour about 1/3 cup white vinegar into the pot, give it a stir, then let is all simmer for another 20 minutes. Pour it all into the sink, allow the wool to cool slightly, then rinse in clear water. Put the wool in your washer and let it go through a cold rinse and a spin cycle, then dry in the dryer with a towel and a dryer sheet. All those colors will now look much better when used together in your rug!
You can do the same thing with woolens of different colors. If you have a bright blue that you want to tone down, just marry it with a piece of orange wool (its complementary color on the color wheel)— the blue and orange will marry to yield two pieces of different colored, but complementary wools that will be less bright and usable for the same project. If you are not sure about complementary colors, check this web site for an example of a color wheel; complementary colors lie directly across the wheel from one another.
Marble the Woolens!
This is a great technique for creating different colors of wools to use in the same background or in the same rug, that are very well coordinated but not the same color. ..... Thanks to Karen Kahle from Primitive Spirit for creating this great technique. Be sure to visit her web site and request her catalog- she has really great designs and cool instruction books, too!
Pick a dark wool, like hunter green, and then it's complement—medium to dark red or burgundy. Then pick a light shade of either of those (pink, light green), or pick a neutral, like camel or tan. Layer pieces of approximately the same size one of top of each other, alternating the colors and tones (dark, light, dark, light, etc). Roll them together long ways like a snake or a jelly roll.
Take rubber bands or twine and bind the roll in several places (think tie dye). The number of binding ties will vary the effect you get, but use at least five. You can also use twine or strips of wool for tying up the bundle. Coil the roll of wool up like a snake and put it in the bottom of your pot. You want the coil to just fit inside the pot, so if you are doing small swatches, use a smaller pot.
Pour in just enough hot tap water to barely cover the wool, and then add about a tablespoon or two of liquid detergent. Smoosh the wool down in the water with tongs to mix in the detergent and to wet the dry coil of wool. Put the pot on the stove, cover, put the burner on medium high and allow it to come to almost a boil and keep it there for 30 minutes (do not boil the water or you will felt the wool—not good to do!). You can turn the coil over in the pot after about 15 minutes if you want—this is something to experiment with as it will vary your results.. After 30 minutes, add about 1/2 cup of white vinegar to set the dyes back into the wool and let it all simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the water is clear and the dyes have all been taken up. Dump it all in the sink and rinse it in cool water. When the wool is cool enough to touch, cut the ties or rubber bands and unwrap your wool and be amazed at the results! Run your wool through a rinse and spin cycle in your washer and then toss it in the dryer with a terry towel and a dryer sheet.
Here are some color combinations that work especially well for marbling:
- navy/soft yellow/golden brown
- olive/camel/maroon
- dark red/light red/black or dark plum
- russet brown/camel/eggplant
- blue/oatmeal/olive green
- blue/white/brown
As you can see these do not always follow the complement formula I gave you with the red/green scenario. Some great subtle effect can be achieved with a more monochromatic combination such as brown/camel/mustard. Experiment with anything you think might look good together. You can do it with 3 small swatches in a small pan to get an idea of how it will turn out before you use large amounts to avoid unhappy surprises with larger pieces of your precious woolens! Some wool will release more dye than others, so you'll have to experiment and see what you get . . . it's always a surprise!
So go buy lots of recycled wool (make your Goodwill store happy) and make them beautiful!!
It’s also a good idea to keep some notes when you are dyeing wool, or otherwise changing the color of your wool. Snip about a 2-inch square from each fabric before you put them in the dye pot. Staple each one to an index card. Then write on the card what you did to it like, “Marbled this with olive green and camel wools”— then, also staple a piece of the ‘after’ wool to the same card. If your color alteration comes out really good and you want to do more, you have a record of what you did to get it. Believe me, you will forget! Later, if you decide to use dyes and overdye some woolens, write the dye formula on the card, and any changes you made to it, along with the before and after pieces of wool.
Until next time -- happy hookin'!