Breaking Black : Dyeing Wool Yarn Black in the Crock Pot

I didn't mean to do it.  I was hoping for a nice pure black, but I managed to break it ...

One of the things I've been wanting to try is dying wool yarn with Wilton's cake/icing (food) dye in the crock pot.  I got several cones of taupe / neutral-colored carpet warp a while back, and wanted to dye some of it black--if possible.  [I know my friend Lynda has REAL (light fast and color fast) permanent acid dye meant for this, but still I wanted to give the food coloring method a try.]

There are ways to "break" the dye -- that is, break the dye into it's component colors.  For black, that appears to be green and red and maybe some blue.   I was hoping for a pure black, and I might have gotten it if I'd have kept adding black dye in the proper proportions.

It sort of worked ...  It's an interesting dye job, though not quite what I expected.  The black dye is made up of green and red. 

 Here is the wool yarn BEFORE I dyed it.  You can see the taupe-y / camel color.  I said earlier this was an experiment.  I wanted to see how this wool would take the color.

Here is that skein soaking in a bucket of water with some vinegar in it.  This helps it take in the color more evenly in the dye bath. Here is is weighted down with a rock to keep it submerged.

I have an old crock pot that I keep in the dye kitchen in the basement for non-food purposes like soap-making and dye jobs.  I discovered the skeins I had run were all about 329 grams (or so).  Too big for the old round crock pot.   St Vincent de Paul to the rescue!  They had an old crock pot for $4 -- one of those larger oblong shapes with a simple dial for warm - low - high (not digital).   It was a better fit for my bulky skein.

Proportions :
One website / blog I consulted advised 1/2 teaspoon Wilton's dye to 100 grams of wool yarn.  That seemed about right ...  I kept adding more dye in hopes of getting better coverage / take-up.  I must have added more dye in 1/2-tsp increments 3 times -- and could have kept going until the jar was emptied out. 

It might have worked a little better, too, if I had worked with smaller skeins.  Even the larger crock pot was "tight" for this over-sized skein at 329 grams.

Of course the dye and vinegar solution is dark / saturated when you pour it in.  You know it's complete when the water/solution (it still has some vinegar in it) in the dye bath is completely clear. -- That means the dye bath is exhausted.  That means the yarn has taken up the color.  You can keep adding more dye until it stays in the water.  I let the last batch cool down and soak overnight.  By morning, the water / solution was completely clear,

I do like what I got, and will likely do more experimenting with other colors and "breaking" them.

 

I look forward to "breaking" more of the Wilton food coloring/cake dyes.  I think it might be best to put these in the serendipity dying category.  Be happy with what you get, though it may be tough to predict.

Here are a couple more tutorials on dying yarn in the crock pot : 

Hot Pour Method by Teryn J.

Love Knitting's How to Dye Wool Yarn with Wilton's Food Coloring