Current Solar Dyeing Projects

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Madder(?) and Olive Green (June 2, 2026)

Currently dyeing huacaya alpaca fiber

The dye material is from a "natural dye kit" my boyfriend got me for my birthday

I find it dubious whether these dyes are actually plant material as the packaging only has plant names for the yellow and red (Marigold and Madder respectively)

The green is just stated to be "Olive Green" and I could only find the company on Amazon when doing further research

Update: The colors came out strong but the fiber horribly felted

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Madder(?) and Olive Green (June 9, 2026)

Due to the felting of the previous fibers, I decided to try putting more fiber into the same dye baths and leaving it out in the sun without touching it

With the green, I also tried separating the fiber into staple lengths to see if that would help, but the madder fiber is intact

It has currently been out there for over a week and I haven't touched it at all in order to see what would happen to the fibers

Update: It's been 12 days and we have successfully dyed (not felted) fibers!!!!

I fluffed out each bit of fiber so that it would look less compacted and hopefully stay fluffy

From this experiment I have learned that I can just put more fiber into the same dye baths and put it back outside without adding more alum

I have also learned that stirring/shaking is unnecessary (for me) because the fiber still took the dye well without it and I like the bits that are darker than the rest