Dyer Interview: Tricia Hunt of Spinning Wheel Studio

I met Tricia Hunt of Spinning Wheel Studio last September at Maker Faire NYC, where I had a booth at the BUST Craftacular. Meeting Tricia was the very best thing that happened to me that day! She gave me terrific tips on marketing my Etsy shop, and she was so friendly and encouraging, and it was just great for me to make friends with another indie dyer. (It's easy to feel alone when one is all by oneself in a basement studio space, not knowing a single other dyer.) So I was thrilled when Tricia agreed to be interviewed for Baba's Fiber Dyeing Workshop!

What made you want to start dyeing yarn/fiber?
First, to be honest, I was spending an awful lot of money on other indie dyers' hand dyed/ painted fibers and, although I LOVE supporting other people like me, I also kept thinking that I could be getting a lot more "bang for my buck" if I dyed my own. I still see fibers dyed by other folks that I just "must have" so I still do support indie dyers, but I have to say that dyeing for myself has been a huge boost to my business.

Second, there is such creative possibility in dyeing. I could describe a colorway I have in mind to another dyer, but there's NOTHING like doing it yourself, getting exactly what you have in mind. There's also nothing like just letting yourself go - a little of this, a little of that. I love being creative in my dyeing, picturing the different yarns that could result from this or that wool. I love that I can plan exactly what I want or I can wing it and see what I get!

"Autumn Winds" - 4 1/4 oz hand dyed BFL wool top,
roving fiber for spinning and felting

Do you have a favorite book or learning resource? Are you a member of any guilds or groups in your area that you learn from?
I'm not a member of any guilds or groups. I'm busy at home homeschooling two teenagers (and in the car driving them hither and yon!). I do imagine a day when my circumstances will change and look forward to becoming part of a fiber community at that point!!

But, books - YES! I have a growing library of books and magazines. Spin Off magazine is really fun. I pore over it and make a list of websites to check out. I get ideas for colorways, fibers, new sources for wool/dye/etc. Such an inspiration! I also love the book Color In Spinning by Deb Menz. She covers using a hackle, a drum carder, dyeing... you name it. Great illustrations, too. I think my favorite book is The Twisted Sisters Sock Book. The author, Lynn Vogel, is one of my Facebook friends which gives me some serious warm fuzzies! :) I love her photos and ideas. Her book, more than any of the others on my shelves, inspired me to dye for myself. I would love to meet and learn from her some day!

How would you describe your method - hand painted? Kettle dyed? Jackson Pollack? :) How has it changed since you started dyeing?
I have evolved into two main ways of dyeing, which I'll describe below. Both result in space dyed combed top. I tend to like really saturated colors, but not overly wild combinations. I use what I know about the color wheel to make what I think will be pleasing colorways. I am also always noticing new 'colorways' in the world around me - the sunset, the woods, my daughter's dance class, a a snow storm... you name it - then 'copying' them in fiber. I THINK in colorways! I imagine most of us dyers do!

If you hand-paint it, how do you apply heat to your product - microwave? steam bath? How many pots do you have? Anything else about your setup that you think is interesting and don't mind sharing with other dyers?
I dye in crockpots. I have three of them devoted to dyes. They are in a little row on TV trays on an extension cord. Although I do experiment and try different things, I generally dye one of two ways.

ONE: The easiest, neatest, most easily repeatable way that I dye is sort of a combination of kettle dyeing and dip dyeing: First I soak a length of 4-6 ounces of fiber in room temperature water for a bit (at least ten or fifteen minutes, sometimes as long as overnight). I put a little water in the bottom of the crock pot and place four wide mouth pint size canning jars in the crock pot. In each of the jars I squirt a little dye from dye stock which I keep mixed up (I have quite an assortment - more on this below). Sometimes I measure in ml using syringes, other times I just eyeball, depending on what I'm going for (something one of a kind, an exact replica of a previous colorway, something that will match something else, etc). I put a glug of white vinegar in each of the canning jars w/ the dye stock, then pour room temperature water into the canning jars to about 2/3rds full. So, I have four jars with dye/vinegar/water in a little square in the crock pot - they fit just right. Then I wring most of the water out of a piece of soaking fiber and place one end of it in one of the canning jars, mushing it down with a plastic spoon. I decide how much of each color I want along the space dyed fiber and, accordingly, place fiber from one jar to another around the crock pot. If I want white in the final roving I wring the water out extra well and leave white fiber sticking out between jars (propped up by the edge of the jars).

If I want the colors to blend together I add extra water to the jars once the fiber is distributed between them and 'moosh' a little extra. Sometimes I will use small amounts of accent colors squirted on white fiber propped up above the tops of the jars. I then mist the whole thing with white vinegar in a spray bottle and turn the crock pot on low for 2 to 3 hours. Once the water runs clear and the crock pot has become very steamy, I turn it off, uncover and let it cool before rinsing it well and hanging on a drying rack to dry. This is a very NEAT way to dye. I do wear rubber gloves and an apron, but very rarely do I come in any serious contact with the dye stock/dye. It is also a very easy way to do predictable, repeatable colorways.

"It Matters" - Handspun yarn, 272 yards worsted weight,
hand dyed superwash corriedale wool top

TWO: The other way I tend to dye is a la The Twisted Sister Sock Book. I use Lynn Vogel's 'cold pour' method. I rarely keep a record of how I dye fibers in this way... I just consider these fibers 'one of a kind' and let myself go nuts and have fun. For this method I soak the fibers in water with white vinegar for a couple of hours. Then I spread a couple pieces of saran wrap out on a folding table, wring out the fiber pretty well (again, 4-6 oz at a time) and snake it back and forth along the saran wrap. Then I make little plastic cups with a bit of dye stock, a glug of white vinegar and a glug of water. Then I just pour either straight from the plastic cups or from a plastic spoon into whatever pattern the spirit moves me to create. With plastic gloves on, I smoosh the fiber around after each color is poured to be sure the fiber is quite saturated with color, then mop up with a rag so there's no excess water/dye on the saran wrap.

I do this down the length of the fiber, spray the whole thing with white vinegar, then fold in the ends of the saran wrap, roll it up the long way and wrap the whole thing up like a snail. This saran wrapped snail goes into the crock pot on a steaming rack with about half an inch of water underneath. Again, it steams for a couple hours, then cools and gets well rinsed before heading to the drying rack. I love how these come out, but the process is more time consuming and messy by far than the 'four canning jar' method!

Do you use acid dyes, "natural" dyestuffs, or for that matter Kool-Aid? How did you decide what you wanted to use?
I use Jacquard dyes. They are protein dyes (which works for me because I mostly work with wool and wool blends) and the only acid they require is white vinegar. Kool-Aid -- Yes, I've played around with it with my kids, but when folks tell me they are thinking of starting with Kool-Aid because 'acid dyes' make them nervous, I tell them to skip the Kool-Aid (unpredictable results, expensive, few colors, weird sticky smell and nasty powder in the air/lungs) and use Wilton gels (like folks use to color cake frosting). Wilton gels come in tons of colors and you can get pretty reliable dyeing results using them with white vinegar in the same ways I describe above). HOWEVER, these dyes will 'break'. Some of the Wilton dyes are made from other colors - black, for instance, will become black with purple and pink edges... If you don't have something specific in mind, though, or if you experiment and figure out the breaks, you can have a lot of fun with Wilton cake dyes without having to deal with 'professional' dyes. A fun way to get your feet wet.

That said... I LOVE the Jacquard dyes. I currently have 33 Jacquard dye stocks mixed up in my studio. That means an absolutely ENDLESS number of possible colors as they are wonderful to mix to create new colors. They are a little intimidating to mix up, but once you've done it, you've got a jug of dye stock that will last for ages! I mix my dye stocks over a bathtub wearing a face mask, gloves and an apron and have never had a problem. I mix one little tub of Jacquard powder to 32 oz of hot water in plastic GatorAde bottles. All my dyeing liquid is made from these stocks.

So that I can reproduce colorways I have a recipe file box. Each colorway that is reproducible (not one of a kind) has a card with the colorway's name, the method used for making it and then the actual recipe (i.e. 'four jar method'; jar 1: 20 ml spruce with 5 ml gold ochre, etc.). When I think of it, I wrap a piece of yarn made in that colorway around the recipe card and label the type of fiber used for that particular yarn.

Do you buy your fiber/yarn from local farms or online? What fibers do you like working with the best?
BOTH! We live near Canterbury Shaker Village which has a 'wool day' each spring. We also live less than an hour from the grounds of the NH Sheep and Wool Festival which takes place Mother's Day weekend each year. GREAT sources of local fibers at good prices! I love putting a face/farm with a fiber when I work with it! I also order online from both online fiber shops and from indie sellers on Etsy. Beyond buying wool, wool also just 'finds' me... I grew up raising sheep and, although I no longer have sheep myself, my brother's family does. And from my former 'sheep girl days', I know lots of 'sheep people' and it's amazing how many people have bags of wool in their barn that are looking for a happy home.

My very favorite fiber for both spinning and dyeing is Blue Faced Leicester. I don't know anyone w/ BFL sheep, so I tend to buy my BFL from The Spunky Eclectic in Maine. LOVE IT! It takes dye beautifully and is very soft, fluffy and crimpy. Makes a gorgeous 2 ply yarn, which is my favorite thing to spin. :)

Where do you work? Do you have a special studio or do you use the kitchen?

I'm SO lucky. We have a finished basement, half of which is carpeted with a futon/tv/etc for the family. The other half is laminate flooring and is MINE, all mine! A nice big studio work space with windows and everything! I have a wall of shelves to hold all my fibers - dyed and to-be dyed, an area for drying racks (and a big fan for humid days), a table for winding, carding, etc., a big bulletin board for posting new ideas and color samples, and an area for packing, photographing and running my business. It is heaven! Sometimes I just stand and look at it... so colorful and such a dream come true! There's a full bathroom just off the studio which I use for dyeing. The sink and bathtub will never be the same. :) In the bathroom there are TV trays w/ my crock pots on them, a set of shelves with all the dye stocks, a cupboard with rubber gloves, rags, saran wrap, plastic cups, syringes, white vinegar... all the necessities. A small hallway connecting the studio to the bathroom is just the right amount of space for a folding table where I paint fibers (using the second method described above). At first I did that in the bathtub, but it is no fun at all to lean over a bathtub for any length of time! There are some photos of my studio - I think - on my Facebook page.

What part of dyeing is the most satisfying to you?
The creativity of it! It really makes you look at the world in a different way. There are colorways everywhere!

What part of dyeing freaks you out a little or irritates you, and why?

The mess. Really... my bathroom will never be the same. I am very fortunate to have an extra bathroom I could destroy. :)

The smell. My studio (and therefore my family's tv room) smells like hot wool soaked in vinegar. :)

And that there is not enough time in a day. So many possible colorways... so little time... so much to do that does NOT involve fiber... :)

And lastly ... if you could read (or hear) an interview with another dyer, who would it be?
Definitely would like to hear more from Lynn Vogel. She is amazing to me. I love the colors she chooses. She's teaching a class at Harrisville Designs in NH in August that I would LOVE to take - all about color/dyeing for spinning. If I can save enough money before it fills I'm going to take it, but I really doubt that will happen. I don't have anything in particular I'd ask her, I just have a feeling she is something special when it comes to dyeing and would be quite an inspiration!

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Thank you again, Tricia, for taking the time to answer my questions and clearly devoting so much thought to your answers. I'm so glad you are in my crafting circle of friends!

Please don't miss Spinning Wheel Studio on Etsy (also check out Spinning Wheel Studio's Facebook page)!