I adore these formulas

These 6 formulas are divine and all go together wonderfully. What will you make with them?
Method:

All colours dyed over 1/8th yd of natural wool. I wet the wool. I dissolved the Majic Carpet Dyes together in boiling water, poured them into the barely heated dye bath, added the wool and waited until the water almost cleared to add 1/32 tsp citric acid or 1 tbsp vinegar.

Wait until water clears or as long as you see fit.

Rinse well.

Weakened Egg

1/64 tsp. Blue

1/128th tsp. Brilliant Green

Rotten Egg

1/32 + 1/64 tsp Blue

1/64 tsp. Brilliant Green

Basket Grass

1/32 tsp Yellow

1/4 inch damp toothpick into Seal Brown

1/128th tsp. Moss Green

1/128th Turquoise

Golden Goose

1/32 tsp Yellow

1/128th tsp. Seal Brown

Coxcomb

2/32 tsp. Red

1 inch damp toothpick into Orange

1/2 inch damp toothpick into Seal Brown

Edge Of Night

1/16th tsp. Black

1/16th tsp. Seal Brown

Enjoy your dyeing!

I'm making some beautiful collections of soft and luscious wool to buy ( by the pound)  coming later this week in my online store, I'll blog with the announcement when all is set. Meanwhile you can buy a Big Beauty if you think you can tame her right here.

Ugly Formulas But Your Rug Needs Them, I Swear.

We can't always have every colour in our rugs be drop dead gorgeous on their own, some don't get their glory on until they are in a setting. They like a party! When you look at this wall of wool of mine you don't see the dim ones.... but they are in their making all the others look outstanding!

Oh wall of wool I miss seeing you, soon we shall be together again when Fraken Foot heals!

Here are two nothing colours that can do a lot for our rugs.

Over 1/4 yd. of natural wool using Majic Carpet Dyes, dye bath method described below.

(you can use which ever dyes you choose for somewhat similar though not exact results)

Campbells Mushroom Soup

½ inch damp toothpick Orange

½ inch damp toothpick Blue

1/4 inch of damp toothpick Reddish Brown ( maybe Mochachino might do it)

Turned Mint Jelly

1/64 tsp. Red Violet (double amount if using American Beauty or Magenta)

2/32 tsp. Moss Green ( a medium yellow green)

1/64 tsp. Turquoise  ( use Pro Chem Seabreeze or  1/128th  ProChem Turquoise)

Method:

Wet wool with an additive such as shampoo, Jet Dry or Synthrapol to prepare it to dye.  Heat a receptacle of water to dye in, for the smooth dyeing of ¼ yd use approx. 1 gallon of water.  Add dye formula into the dye bath, making sure it is dissolved.

 Add wool. Heat at simmer for several minutes stirring for smooth application of dye. Add in 1/32 to 1/4tsp citric acid depending how dark the colour, about 10 minutes into the process or until most of the dye is taken up. The latter is what I do. Continue heating until the water is perfectly clear or per your own directives.  Rinse well, use dryer or hang to dry.

Poppy Colours

It's research and development day here tomorrow so I'll be offline.

I've got a delicious poppy rug awaiting me and some catch ups and laying some creativity ground work.

Without R&D days I couldn't do a thing. But I've got some formulas to share with you.

Here are a few beautiful colours for you to break out all poppy like using my hand crafted Majic Carpet Dyes

I would say these colours below are quite a few degrees brighter than shown, sorry my camera does not do good job of hot colours.

I used a dye bath method to create these colours over 1/8th yd of wool. See microwave bath method video here. This is a link to The Welcome Mat for those of you who are members.

You can also use a stove top dye bath.

True Love

3/32 tsp. Red

1/32 Red Violet

Purty Love 

2/32 tsp. Red Violet

Barney Love 

2/32 tsp. Blue Violet 

1/32 tsp.Blue

Love is all there is!

Dyeing Roving

My good friend Marion came yesterday to get her some Majic.

She brought some too.

Look at this "elephant head" of roving she bought!

And my flowers!

I have a special way of dyeing roving, there is little impact to the roving, you don't need a mile long set up and you can get a great, beautiful bunch of self striping spinning happening.

And Marion took to it like a pro.

You can lay them out two ways for different effects.

 Here Marion has applied her Magic Carpet Dyes in pastellish form below, most colours were straight from the jar.

Here's our other pan below with the wool running the other way.

 And we added some echo pieces on the top and along the sides just to show what can be done.

You get a shorter roving with the same colours in short sections from the on top pieces, and the beside pieces give you longer sections of the same colours because they're put in wavy wiggles.

You just pop them into the oven then at 350˚F for 35 minutes or until the water is clear.

Here they are in the sink cooling down after the oven.

 Happy Spinning for the Spinzilla Marathon Marion!

Try dyeing this way for your next roving session.

Does the Majic interest you?

Go here to learn more about them

Daughter Of Darkness Stirs The Majic

I love dark rich colours.

I'm a card carrying member of the Daughters Of Darkness.

Right now I'm hooking on my online class project along with my students.

The Painterly Poppies on The Welcome Mat.

The deep reds and greens make me very happy.

I love working along with my students this way, the pattern is part of the class fee and everyone is doing their own thing with it, flipping, resizing and bringing their own beauty to it with their own wool or personal variations on formulas I give them to create something wonderfully individual. 

I'm present with them as they hook and can take step by step photos as I paint and adjust my colours.  This class feels fresh and lively.

We are approaching the last lesson on possible backgrounds though these classes stay online and you can join in any time and I pop in to help you along as you wish. 

Because red is a naturally dark valued colour and the stems are long and run through the background we will have some careful plotting to do.

+

On the topic of dyeing very dark colours which we could all use in our stashes...

There are a couple of things to know about dyeing really dark colours. You need extra time, lots more dye, more patience, more citric acid and for some colours placing a lid on the pot is a good idea so the steam can add to the overall heating. Sometimes I leave wool overnight in the pan after shutting off the heat and cover it up with a lid. 

On another note I most often dye dark colours over already dyed wool. This time I used natural wool because we can all find it easily. It does take quite a bit of dye to do these but the colours are so terrific.

I have a few Majic Carpet Formulas to share today 

Dyed over 1/2 yd. of natural wool

These photos have been lightened 20% to show colour

The first two use a spot dye method

 It takes 1 hr 30 mins.. @ 350 ˚ F to process these.

Gather up wool in peaks and valleys, add 1/8th tsp. citric acid to each dye solution, pour in stripes or spots in a checkerboard pattern. Don’t mess around too much with the wool after you pour the dye on so you can get the stars in the dark sky effect.

GALAXY

1/2 tsp. Blue Violet

1/2 tsp. Turquoise

1/2 tsp. Bottle Green

1/2 tsp. Brilliant Green

1/2 tsp. Red Violet

1/2 tsp. Black

SOLAR FLARES

1/2 tsp. Orange

1/2 tsp. Red

1/2 tsp. Red Violet

1/2 tsp. Yellow

1 tsp. Moss Green

1 tsp. Black

You won't be sorry you dyed these dark darlings.... get some Majic into your life today!

Formulas for September Skies

From my September Skies Article in my Dyeing Matters Column on The Welcome Mat

 Storm Froth 

Storm

Both are from the same recipe:

Over 1/4 yd of wet natural wool with Majic Carpet Dyes using the dye bath method.

Dissolve these together in 1/4 cup of boiling water and top off to 1 cup with cooler water.

 1/8th tsp. Blue

1/32 tsp. Chocolate brown

I did something special  to help you get good light blues which can be difficult.

I measured out 1 tbsp. of the Storm formula and placed it in a dye bath with 1/4 yd of wet natural wool. I processed this colour without adding acid.

After the dye bath cleared I placed the wool into an acid and water bath, 8 cups of water 1 tsp. acid.

Storm Froth was the result of that tablespoon of dye recipe over 1/4 yard of wool.

Use the rest of the formula to create Storm as pictured, it will not make a difference to the colour if the tbsp is used for Storm Froth or not, proceed with or without it.

Happy Dyeing!

Emily Carr Colours for you

There is deep majic in the forests of Canada.

Our Artist Emily Carr captured these spirits in her work

 Sombreness Sunlit, c. 1938 - 1940
oil on canvas
110.7 cm x 67.2 cm

I used my own Majic Carpet Dyes to capture her colourations in formulas.

You can too.

Here is Tree Bark from Sombreness Sunlit

1/128th tsp. Turquoise

1/128th tsp. Seal Brown

This is a wonderful neutral that would work for many places in a hooked rug, anywhere a cool gray is needed from flesh to forest as seen above to florals.

If you are interested in dyeing more amazing Carr colours you can buy the whole collection, 19 colours inspired from 4 paintings in The WandaWorks Store as well as the Majic Carpet Dyes to create them.

The Mistress of Majic Carpet Dyes says The Store is Open

There have been people who have commented I have a rainbow up my arse.
I cannot see it that effectively so I'll leave that for you to observe... quietly please.

What I can tell you is Majic does happen to me rather frequently.
And very colourful Majic. For instance after a very long but fruitful day plugging away at Majic Carpet Dye business, I laid down to rest.
This is what happened. Yes, without trickery, lights, drugs or Photoshop.

And not only once...

But twice and with different colourways. It made me laugh.
We feel deliciously colour blessed here.
And I'm glad to report it was not coming from my arse but from more heavenly heights.

If you want to be in such an awesome space when you dye I suggest you go to www.wandaworks.ca
Our dyes, the Majic Carpet Dyes, formerly owned and operated by Rittermere Hurst Field are ready for sale.

Questions? We have a list of FAQs right here.

Want to join our club for Majic Carpet Dye users? There is nothing else like this around for other brands. It is already amazing and I have many great plans for it and it's completely free. It's in my online school The WandaWay Studio  Go to the Classrooms to look for The Majic Carpet Club to sign up.

Hmmmm what dyeing tidbit will I share tonight.....
OK I don't know if you always do this but I think it is one of the most important tricks to foster when dyeing.... As soon as you take the lid off your dye jar - measure quickly - and get the lid back on pronto.

If you spill that stuff or something drops in it to contaminate your colour you will feel sorry.
Lid off, lid back on before you do another thing.

How about a pretty colour to dye tomorrow?

Over ¼ yd. of natural wool in a dye bath with Majic Carpet Dyes (though you can use which ever dyes you choose for somewhat similar though not exact results)

Method:

Wet wool with an additive such as shampoo, Jet Dry or Synthrapol to prepare it to dye.  Heat a receptacle of water to dye in, for the smooth dyeing of ¼ yd use approx. 1 gallon of water.  Add dye formula into the dye bath, making sure it is dissolved.

 Add wool. Heat at simmer for several minutes stirring for smooth application of dye. Add in 1/32 to 1/4 tsp. citric acid depending how dark the colour, about 10 minutes into the process or until most of the dye is taken up. The latter is what I do. Continue heating until the water is perfectly clear or per your own directives.  Rinse well, use dryer or hang to dry.

Powdered Turquoise

3/32 tsp. Turquoise

1/64 Bottle Green

If you really enjoy delightful dyeing I know you will devore my dyeing column in The Welcome Mat. Currently I'm comparing three dye company's ( Cushing/ ProChem/ Majic)  main colours for leads on how to sub them for each other. It is called Colour Craft and contains great recipes and hints on how to handle bright strong colours too. I think you'd love it. We are also playing with my Point Method of dyeing, video instructions and recipes, so much fun!

See you there!

Majic Carpet NEWS And Yellow Formulas

You have only tomorrow to wait and we will be open for Majic Carpet Dye orders.
We have been working very hard to get ready.

We are thankful for your patience with my one leggedness and interest in our new product at WandaWorks. Our strengths are different than Rittermere Hurst Field's were and this necessitates changes. We know you'll understand we all need to foster our specialities and work with our greatest aptitudes. We hope these changes will be welcome ones.

Here are the answers to FAQs we've had lately.

How do we order?
We are a mail order business. We have no phone. You can order online on our website or download an order form to mail or write by snail mail or email us and request a form.  Our email is majiccarpet@bmts.com

What can we order?
You can order the regularly sized Majic Carpet jars with 2/3 oz dye or bigger jars with 1,1/3 oz dye  or refill for the 2/3 oz jar.
You can order glauber salts and citric acid soon. Dye lessons, formula collections are available in PDF form to purchase too.

When can we order?
We would like you to order starting Thursday September 18th  at  www.wandaworks.ca
You can look around our website now but we are still in the process of polishing some areas such as shipping which might be crucial in your order.

I'd like to place a wholesale order.
We are not wholesalers. This is not part of our business dynamic but welcome any all orders including those that will stock your shelves. Please add what you need to to recover costs and profit.

Can I buy big jars like you use?
Yes you can upon special request. There is no discount on these products. You pay by the unit measure which is 2/3 oz.

Can I be your US distributor?
We have no plans to seek special distribution at this time.

Can I get a discount if I'm a teacher?
I've long thought teachers don't charge enough for classes if they are dependant on discounts from suppliers to aid their paycheck. We will be looking at this in future to see if my bad attitude needs refining. Mind you I can have this attitude as I am a teacher of many years. As a business person I would need to raise the price for everyone to accommodate this discount.  I'd rather not.

Our thrust with this new venture is to offer not only dyes to the home dyer but information, affirmation and support with their dyeing ventures. We want to be in direct contact with our consumers. We love these dyes. We want to feel the Majic with you and bring even more of it to your dyeing life.

Let's Talk About Yellow Now
Majic Carpet Yellow is a low acid reactive dye.
This means you add no acid during the dye bath process,  that the more acid you add the less likely it is to work. Adding a lid on the other hand is a great idea as Yellow loves a very high heat, greater than a simmering can provide. A lid on let's steam act to raise temperatures beyond the boiling point.

Even when I'm using a tremendous amount of Yellow, say 1 tbsp or more, I would only add acid when the water is almost clear.
When doing a spot dye, I do not add acid along with the yellow dye. The high heat and neighbouring acidity is enough to have it strike to the wool.

Yesterday an anonymous Pear Maker asked if our recipe Caryn would make a good pear (use the refill link above to see it.)
Today I'm sharing some info on make good yellows in case a golden pear is what was required.

For the following samples I used 1/32 of Magic Carpet Yellow plus a few grains of the other colours listed over a

piece of wool that is 4 "x 18" ( 1/16th yd.) 

To dull down yellow use a few grains of black, be careful it

will turn green if you add too much black.

  To lessen yellow's intensity use a few grains of blue violet (I

usually use a toothpick, dipped dry into the dye, or dipped wet if I require

more dye).

 To deepen yellow add magic carpet chocolate brown.

To cool it use a 1/4 in damp round toothpick of Magic Carpet Moss Green.

I recommend using Magic Carpet dyes for a great dependable beautiful yellow that will "go" with most anything. A few blue violet grains added to this strong yellow creates a colour that is unequaled. If I was banished to a desert island made of wool this is the yellow dye I would want in my

palette.

When I am trying for good usable yellows as I add dye colours to the yellow, say I add brown to yellow to make it more dark and warm, I paint the dye on a white paper. This way I can see if I have achieved my desired result.  I add more dye if needed or stop if I'm getting close to my desired colour. Only add very small increments at a time to the yellow. Paint a strip each time you do . This is the best way to test for colour without wasting wool. Use the dye solution like a paint.

 I hope this help you out Dear Pear Hooker.

Only Three More Days Until Your Majic Carpet Arrives

Are you almost ready to roll?

Only 3 more days to wait to place your order for Majic Carpet dyes.

Look at our new product, the Majic Carpet Dye Jar Refill.

Instead of buying a jar again and paying higher amounts for shipping we can pack you up a great refill selection per your order and you can refill your jars! We've tested it extensively and it survives shipping wonderfully. We even send you decanting instructions with some fun ways to use the scant dye remaining in the zip lock.

This product is totally green in so many ways ... let's celebrate.

Here is an unusually coloured green called Caryn

It is tremendously useful in your stash as it is chameleon like... elusively acting gold in some environments and green in others.

Caryn

Using Majic Carpet Dyes

2/32  tsp. Moss Green

2/32 tsp. Orange

Mix formula together with boiling water, pour into a dye bath over a wet 1/8th yd natural wool. Heat was added, then citric acid or vinegar after about 5 minutes. Wait until water clears. Rinse well, dry in dryer or hang to dry. Multiply x 2 for 1/4 yd of wool. Multiply x 4 for a half yd. 

Fall- ing in Love - Majic Carpet Dyes and The Spirit Hare Pattern

The fall is always a special time for me, I love the wild skies, the bright colours and the beautiful days.
And it is also time on The Welcome Mat for our free Fall Spirit Animal pattern. I love this series we have, we do so many amazing renditions of these patterns.
This year Caryn Devlin of The Wool Garden has drawn The Spirit Hare for us.
Here is part of this amazing pattern.

He is communing in a spirit world!

And best of all, this week our newest addition to WandaWorks, Majic Carpet Dyes is ready to launch.

Have you got your ticket to ride ?

I'm excited to announce our countdown for online sales of The Majic, (the Majic Carpet Dyes) on my website starting September 18th, only 5 more days to wait!

Want to ride the Majic Carpet with me?  I'll be pulling some rabbits out of hats for you with formulas and dye instruction each week in The Wanda Way Studio ( my school for rug hooking online).
I've started a club there for all things Majical..... go here to join us, it is free and there are formulas and boons posted each week for all to use. Look for The Majic Carpet Club.

I'll continue to support all things dyeing on The Welcome Mat and in RHM.
Have a great week!