Intro

I began hand dyeing fabric about 3 months ago. Since then, I receive many questions about color. How do you make purple? How do you get pink? Etc. So, I decided to scour the Internet, and find everything I can about color. Oddly, a simple search on "What is the Color Wheel" did not bring the simple, straightforward explanations I seeked. So, I had to partly revert to my art background to fully explain my understanding of color and the color wheel.

The Color Wheel

The Color Wheel is a tool that you can use to see how colors work together. The Wheel is made up of Primary Colors and Complementary Colors. Basically, these are the colors that make up the Rainbow: Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Violet. Colors can react to each other in several ways: Contrast, Harmonize, and Clash. Colors may also change their apparence based on other colors to which they are held against.

Primary Colors: Primary colors are Red, Blue, and Yellow. They are called "Primary Colors" because no other colors can be mixed to create these colors. And, as such, Primary Colors make up all other colors. Secondary Colors: Secondary colors, Orange, Green, and Violet, are mixes of the primary colors. That is, equal parts of Red and Yellow make Orange, as Blue and Yellow make Green, and Red and Blue make violet. Tertiary Colors: Tertiary colors are made up by combining Primary colors with Secondary colors. That is: Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Blue-Green, etc. Complementary Colors: Complimentary colors are those that are located opposit to each other on the Color Wheel. Thus, Orange is the complement to Blue, Green to Red (hmmm, wonder why those colors work for Christmas?), and Yellow is to violet. In general, these colors work well with each other and enhance each other when used in combination. As you add one color to its compliment, it will begin to gray the color producing a more neutral color. As you add more of the compliment to the color, it will begin to gray out so that you will no longer be able to see either color. It is then considered to be a neutral color. Related Colors: Related colors are those next to each other on the Color Wheel. If you were to divide the wheel into more sections, you would soon have variations of blue/red resulting in various levels of violet. These colors would then be related to each other.

You may hear the words "warm" and "cool" in regard to colors. The "temperature" is a result of the wavelength of light that is reflected by the color. Thus, the color we see is simply the result of that wavelength of light reflected by the color. If we were to divide the color wheel vertically through the center, between the yellow and violet, the red-orange side would be the warm side and the blue green the cool.

Jewel tones tend to refer to colors that represent gemstones. Such as Violet for Amethysts, Burgundy for Garnet, Navy or Midnight Blue for Saphires, and so on.

Color and Dyeing

Now that you know a bit about color, let's discuss how we can use that in dyeing. First, I must say, I am not much for structure and I just usually wing it when dyeing. That is, I am not really good at keeping track of how much dye I use for each batch. But, I am not going to propose that you follow that same logic. ;-) So, let's start out on the right foot.

On the dyeing instruction pages, you will find reference to a few books that you can get to give you "formulas" for mixing. But, I would suggest that you experiment and work with what what you like in the color department, but I can offer a few guidelines here. It is a good idea to keep a journal of your dye experiments so that you can replicate a technique/color in the future. Please feel free to use my journal chart and use a glue stick to attach a small swatch of your fabric.

As we read above, adding one color's complement from color wheel to itself will tone down, or grey the color some. Thus, if you have a dye that is too bright for your taste, add some of it's complement color. Example, a too bright turquoise? Add some orange.

Color	Dry Powder Color	Liquid Stock Formula	Liquid Quantity	Notes
True Violet	Turquoise Fuschia*	2 tsp Turquoise to 1 cup water 2 tsp Fuschia to 1 cup water	2 TBLS Turquiose 2 TBLS Fuschia	*You may also use magenta as it is called from Dharma Trading
True Green	Turquoise Yellow	2 tsp Turquoise to 1 cup water 2 tsp Yellow to 1 cup water	2 TBLS Turquoise 2 TBLS Yellow
True Orange	Yellow Fuschia	2 tsp Yellow to 1 cup water 2 tsp Fuschia to 1 cup water	2 TBLS Yellow 2 TBLS Fuschia
Pumpkin Orange	Peach (Prochem) Marigold (Prochem)	2 TBS Peach to 1 cup water 1/4 tsp dry Marigold	1/4 cup of Peach stock	Mix the dry 1/4 tsp Marigold with the 1/4 cup liquid Peach stock

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