Vat Dyeing, an easy way to create beautiful color.

Over Dyeing.

Vat, Immersion, Deep Water, Submersion are all kinds of dyeing where the fiber or yarn is in several (or more) inches of water. The dye is mixed in with the water, along with the acid, and the yarn is usually covered by the water.

This is a really easy and simple way to create varied, complex tones. Its easy on your kitchen as well, because you are not painting on a skein laid out over plastic wrap or newsprint that may leak on the bottom layer etc. Vat dyeing is my personal favorite way to dye. The number of techniques you can use to create your colors are many, each giving a slightly different look.

Getting ready to Vat Dye.

I personally really like to work with lace weight yarn, creating complex patterns such as Estonian lace with all its yarn overs and textural nupps, and vat dyeing is great for creating the yarn for lace as it excels at making semi-solid colors.

The trick with Vat dyeing is that you need to have plenty of room for the liquid to move around the yarn. The photo above of over dyeing illustrates this nicely, while the photo to the left the yarn is far too tightly packed. The dye has nowhere to go, and will pool around the outside of the skeins and pot, never reaching the center.




To create semi-solids, pour the dye into the liquid, then put the yarn in, possibly twisting it as you submerge it. Apply the heat and let the dye exhaust. An alternative is to put the yarn in first and then pour the dye over the yarn, exhaust a bit, and then STIR the yarn a bit, so new yarn is exposed.
Here are some examples of vat dyed semi-solids.













Hope you enjoyed todays installment!

Brittany