About: Can you take us behind the scenes into the yarn-producing process?
JW: I think don’t really realize how expensive and time consuming it is to produce a “green” yarn. Natural dyes and natural dye extracts are really expensive because they are being produced in small batches by small groups of people. We are talking $300 a pound for some dyes. That does not include the mordants to set the dye or any of the other costs of production.
Then there is the time. Assuming the yarn or fiber has already been processed in some form so I am not dealing with it in grease form, the fiber needs to be soaked and rinsed with soap to get rid of any residues left that would affect how well the dye takes. Then the fiber needs to be mordanted.
I can only do this a few pounds at a time, since that is all that I can fit in a pot with room to move everything around. It takes at least an hour to mordant the yarn, then it needs to be extracted and rinsed. From there it can’t dry out until after it is dyed, so it either has to go in the fridge or another storage space tightly sealed up. Ideally it should sit at least for a couple days, which helps the color absorb better.
When it is all ready to be dyed, the dyes have to be carefully mixed with either hot or cold water, depending on the dye. Some do best if they sit overnight before you use them. Once everything goes back in to the pot, you have to raise the temperature slowly, which usually takes half an hour to an hour. Too fast and it felts, too hot it felts, too cold the color won’t set or won’t turn. Then, the pot has to sit with the yarn in it to cool down, which helps the color set better. Then another round of rinsing and extracting to get any excess dye out.
From there the yarn or fibers sit on a small drying rack I have set up inside to dry, which takes several days. Yarn is then wound in to skeins, fiber is as is or spun in to yarn, which then needs to have the twist set.
So you can see how long it takes to produce small batches of yarn here at Midnightsky Fibers! It is totally worth it though. You just can’t get these colors from chemical dyes--nor would I want to!
