Workshop 2: Dyeing

In her book, The Secret Lives of Colour, Kassia St Clair says, ‘colour is fundamental to our experience of the world around us’ (p.13). For the knitters and crocheters I have spoken to in my research, colour is an important factor in what they make and why it matters.

As art historian James Fox explains in his book The World According to Colour, ‘colours, of course, aren’t inherently meaningful. Their meanings are created by the people who live with them’ (p. 9). For fibre crafters, the meanings of colour can be social and cultural, such as the colours deemed appropriate to knit for babies, for example. Colours can also have emotional meanings, linking makers to people or place. My own recent forays into Fair Isle knitting also highlighted to me how colour works as a physical process as our eyes register information about light. Stitches formed from the same ball of yellow yarn can look dramatically different depending on whether their neighbouring stitches are blue or red. James Fox describes this process of colour as ‘a dance between subjects and objects, mind and matter’ (p. 6).

At the second Knit and Matter workshop, led by Ishrat Khawja from Fruitful Fusion, we started to explore how colour works when we’re making with yarn, and how we might work with it through dyeing.

We were reunited with the yarn we had spun in Workshop 1, which had since been plied by Sarah. Some participants chose to dye their handspun yarn, while others decided to use it in their finished objects in its undyed state, alongside the yarn they would dye as part of Ishrat’s workshop.

Ishrat introduced us to her work as a dyer, sharing examples of how she is inspired by places and experiences.

She also explained how she works with dye, and the process we’d be using at the workshop. This involved mordanting the yarn with citric acid and salt, and a dash of washing up liquid, before applying acid dyes, and then heating the dyed skeins in a steam bath.

Ishrat advised us on the ways different colours might interact, depending on their position on the colour wheel, and also how to get different effects from colours depending on the application and saturation of the dye. To prepare for dyeing yarn to use in their finished pieces, some participants started exploring colour through sketching and painting, before approaching the blank canvasses of their undyed yarn.

The theme for the Knit and Matter workshops is ‘landscape’. This reflects the way we are exploring connections with materials that take us back to land, as well as the ways in which the meanings associated with our making become part of the landscapes of our own lives. These ideas were reflected in the designs participants have been working on in their sketchbooks.

At the first workshop, we experienced how spinning yarn involved interactions between the material and our bodies; the outcome relied on what was happening with our hands, arms, legs and feet. When dyeing, although the choice of dyes was ours, as was their combination and placement, once again, the material would contribute to the conversation, this time through the interaction of chemicals, colour, heat and water. Lots of us are familiar with using colours to paint, but what would happen when the same colours were applied not to paper, but to yarn? (Of course, the answer to this involves several other stages, including how it’s ultimately used, which will be exciting to see in upcoming workshops!)

What did we notice?

As the dyed hanks were heated in their pans, we reflected on the experience of dyeing and working with colour. Philippa Larkam, who is working with us across the project and will be leading the upcoming design and making workshops, reminded us of the magic of the process we’d experienced, and the power of making: ‘everyone starts with the same materials, then you appear!’

• One participant noted that compared to our experience of spinning – involving holding and twisting in a tight and constrained way – dyeing felt more freeing. Dyeing has its own constraints, of course, including chemical and optical responses, but we ourselves are involved in the process in a different way.
• There was lots of anticipation about ‘what’s coming back to us?’. This experience of colour is different to choosing already dyed yarn with an idea of how we want our finished item to look. The way the colour will work in the finished skeins will also depend on how the yarn is used, and the way the coloured thread becomes a surface. This is also different to what we may experience when applying colour to an existing surface, such as paper.
• We also reflected on creativity, and how it might feel different to work in way that invites us to respond to materials as we go. It will be interesting to see how the colours that emerge from the dyeing process contribute to what we make as our finished objects.
• Some participants are keen to try more dyeing at home, and Ishrat advised us on natural materials that could be easily used (natural dyeing takes more time than we had at the workshop). You could try onions, avocado stones or flowers, for example. You can also find more inspiration in Jenny Dean’s Wild Colour.

Watch the slideshow to see us dyeing!

What matters to you when working with colour?

Share your experiences by leaving a comment below.

• What does colour mean to you when you knit or crochet?
• Do you have favourite colours, or choose colours for particular reasons?
• Have you tried dyeing? How did this process affect what you made with yarn?

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