Dye Methods
Pooling/Striping
When I started Round Mountain Fibers almost 8 years ago, I started with the Ornithology Collection. It featured pooling/striping colorways and coordinating semisolids. Next came the Entomology Collection, which also featured pooling/striping colorways and coordinating semisolids. Pictured on the right is Kestrel, from the Ornithology Collection (Dye to Order).
Variegated
Our third collection (after Ornithology and Entomology) featured a new dye method: The variegated method featured in the Botany Collection. This dye method is ideal for lace or just a more consistent look (with minimal pooling or striping). The collage on the left features Nichol’s Turkshead Cactus, from the Botany Collection (Dye to Order).
Pooling/Striping with Speckles
After the Botany collection, we added the Aquatic Collection. This time the colorways were pooling/striping but we added speckles! Here you can see the American Toad colorway together with Toad Warts, it’s coordinating Tonal Semisolid (see below for more info), and a beautiful dress knit up in the colorway!
Tonal
When we added the Aquatic Collection, we decided to take a Tonal approach to the coordinating semisolids, where they shift in tone from one end of the skein to the other. This makes for a more interesting pooling/striping effect. All of our featured Aquatic and Geology Collection semisolids are dyed in this manner. The small image below features one of our regular semisolids (Cohosh Blue from the Botany Collection) which you can compare to the Tonal semisolid in the larger photo (Salmon Belly from the Aquatic Collection).
Pop of Color
Finally, we added our newest collection, the Geology Collection. This collection features the Pop of Color method, where most of the skein is a semisolid, with a pop of colors at one end. This super fun dye method, shown here in Chalcopyrite, is great for all kinds of projects.
Watercolor
In our Fan Club we decided to explore even more dye methods! So you’ll see a few of those colorways in our Dye To Order category: There’s the Watercolor Method which involves putting the skeins in a bath of hot vinegar water, and pouring liquid dye over the yarn in washes. This method is a little less predictable than the others, but I really love the effect. The final effect is seen here in Sacred Site, a dye to order colorway. It is similar to that of the variegated colors of the Botany Collection.
Nebula
The other new method we’ve been playing with we dubbed the Nebula Method. Our inspiration for the month was a photo of a Veil Nebula. We poured one color of dye on one side of the skein, flipped it over, and did the Aquatic method on the other side (pooling and speckles). And we loved the results! If you love surprising color changes as you work, this is the dye method for you! Of course, the effects vary widely depending on the amount of contrast in the colorway.