Name: Nancy
Message: I have a big bag of wool roving.  I have some powdered dye I bought a long time ago for dyeing muslin to quilt. Yes, I know it requires a different mordant. I think it is that MX type. But I want to cold water dye the roving to use to needle felt onto my tubular knitted bags of different sizes. Just was not satisfied with colors of wool tapestry yarn, I already have, too linear.   I have dyed some yarn but long time ago.  We used zip lock bags and layed them out in the sun to heat them, of course here in Texas in the summertime that was easy to achieve 140 degrees. Also have done some dying with canning jars, but don't have many jars left.  Have used canning steamer outside for ventalation. What is your suggestion? I don't need a lot of any one color, just now.

You do not need any mordant when dyeing with most synthetic dyes. (Mordants are metal ions or tannins.)

You do need to use a different dye assistant with wool than with cotton. Instead of the soda ash used in dyeing cotton, use an acid such as vinegar. You can use Procion MX dyes on wool as well as on cotton, but because the high pH used to dye cotton will damage the wool, you should not use soda ash on wool. When used with vinegar, Procion MX dyes actually perform as acid dyes, rather than as reactive dyes. A special advantage to this technique is that MX dyes that are too old to react with cotton (they stay fresh for only a year or two) will still work fine as acid dyes on wool. It's a good way to use up old MX dye.

Unfortunately, using the MX dyes as acid dyes means that a higher temperature is required, for best results. If it is important to you to use room temperature to dye your wool, there are recipes available to help you, though you are likely to end up with somewhat paler colors. The heat in a plastic bag in the sunlight is better than room temperature, but not as effective as temperatures closer to boiling.  Any bit of warmth you can add to the dye reaction will improve your results. Your colors are likely to be considerably more intense if you heat set by simmering or steaming the wool with the dye, rather than by using plastic bags in the sunlight. 

What you'll probably want to do with your roving is, first, wet it out by presoaking in vinegar and water with a bit of Synthrapol added, then lay it out flat and sprinkle on various colors of whatever powder dye you decide to use. (Be very careful not to breathe any sort of dye powder or other powdered chemical.) Allow the dye to spread on the wet fiber until you like the way it looks. Then, to allow the dye to bond to the fiber, you can wrap your roving in plastic wrap and keep it in a plastic bag in a warm place at least overnight, or you can gently simmer it in a suitable dyeing pot, barely covered in water, or you can steam it, in a covered pot, on a colander or steamer over boiling water, for forty-five minutes. I favor simmering and steaming because they produces the brightest and longest-lasting colors. It is important to avoid handling the wool too much while heating it in order to avoid unwanted felting. Don't reuse your dyeing pot for cooking afterwards, unless you choose to use food coloring as your dye.

For more information on using your old Procion MX dyes on wool, see the following page: 
"Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers"

For additional information on other dyes for use on wool, see the following:
- "About Acid Dyes"
- "Dyeing Protein Fibers"
- "Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers"
 

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