Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Hand-Dyeing (Teach Yourself VISUALLY Consumer)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am pleased and honored to be the first to review Barbara Parry's new book!

Since I've been dyeing for almost 20 years, I think I own nearly every book in print regarding the dyeing of yarn and fabric. Ms. Parry's book is one you MUST own if you dye yarn or fiber. I was delighted to find equal treatment and instruction for both protein and cellulose yarns and fibers; something I've been quite disappointed to NOT see in other books. It seems everyone knows how to dye wool...but it takes someone with more skill and knowledge to be able to show us how to dye both plant fibers and wool with equal instruction. Ms. Parry has it COVERED.

Everything is here...from basic tools and supplies for BOTH types of dyeing, color theory, how to prepare your fiber for dyeing, right on through the many techniques she explains, as well as a delightful chapter on using your hand-dyed fiber in spinning and knitting projects.

I also was VERY happy to find an entire chapter on overdyeing! Just great for those who recycle sweaters for their yarn, or for those who just want to change the color of an existing yarn, Ms. Parry's advice and techniques are just wonderful. She gives explanations for heather and "atmospheric" effects, for creating truly unique yarns. She also shows effects that can be achieved when overdyeing natural colored-yarns, too.

All in all, I give this one a for-SURE five stars! The instruction for dyeing cotton and plant fibers alone is worth the price of the book, which, by the way, was very reasonable. For those who would like to step into dyeing cottons, there just hasn't been much out there to help. This book covers ALL the bases, and will teach you something NEW, even if you have been dyeing for years!

Teach Yourself Visually Hand Dyeing is a great basic book. It covers both acid dyes (for protein/animal fibers) and fiber reactive dyes (for cellulose/plant fibers). All safety issues are detailed, including safe dye mixing, storing and disposal.

One lovely thing about this book is that Barbara Perry addresses dyeing both roving (spinning fiber) and already spun yarn. There are several dyeing books out there that cover one or the other, but generally not both. So this book will be helpful to spinners as well as knitters and crocheters.

The book covers a large range of dye techniques - from basic to more advanced. Included techniques:
Immersion Dyeing
- Solid Shades
- Semi Solid Shands
- Cold pour variegated dyeing
- Rainbow dyed wool locks
Hand Painting (with variations)
- Painting with foam brushes
- Painted Semi Solid yarns
- Dip Dyed
- Variegated Roving
- Self Striping Sock skeins
Free Style
- Kool Aid in the Slow Cooker
- Direct Pour - Low water
- Spray Paint Fiber
- Microwave Method
- Sun Soaked Skeins
- Freckled Roving
Cellulose Fibers
- Immersion
- Hand Painting
- Direct Pour
Over Dyeing
- Natural Colored Fibers
- Commercial Yarns
- Heather Yarns
- Atmospheric Effects

What I did find a bit lacking in this book are pictures of the final product. Usually one is shown, in a single colorway. It would have been very helpful to see more than one colorway, as the colors in this book tend to be dark.

Be aware that the focus of this book is technique, and it lacks the gorgeous project photography of many current knitting books. But if you'd like to know the basics of hand dyeing, this book is a good reference.

I'm extremely new to dyeing and to be honest I haven't actually dyed anything yet. I've been collecting the supplies and dragging my feet on how to begin because I was having a hard time getting a clear picture in my mind of all the steps. That changed when I picked up this book. It lays out in very simple and clear terms all the steps I need to take with a large amount of useful pictures as well. In fact today is the day that I'm going to finally take action and dye some wool. I'd recommend this book to any beginner that is having trouble sifting through all the information out there and looking for clear concise instructions to guide them into the world of dyeing.

I was very disappointed with this book. The photos were small and dark; not helpful at all to illustrate the techniques. At least the photos of the finished projects should be large enough to be able to distinguish the color patterns - it's a book on dyeing with color after all! Since most of the processing was the same after the initial dye application step, most of the book was really repetitive - essentially there was only one paragraph of new info per chapter (on the techniques). I was so disappointed, I returned this book (the first time I've ever done that - this is also the first review I've submitted).

Very informative beginning primer for the newbie sticking their fingers into the world of fiber dyeing. Barbara Perry is well respected in the knitting world as fiber artist and "indie dyer" of hand dyed yarns. I learned a lot about dyeing yarn, and was able to follow her instructions easily. I started first with KoolAid, and decided that after I could not reach the type of colors I really wanted to dye, I will move on to the acid dyes. Barbara's instructions will prepare me well for taking those steps. Between her book, and the volumes of theory that is out there on the web, its all just messing around and experimenting. Her saftey instructions are very clear, and important to follow.

This book is fantastic for both the beginner and advanced. It goes through the basics of dyeing, equipment, and procedures as well as gives examples of different techniques to produce different results. The striped sock technique is highly informative.

The only thing I wish it had was a knit sample of the different final yarns for their recommended needle size to show how they knit up.

A+

It was super easy to learn from this book how to dye wool. If you are a visual person, I highly recommend any of the teach yourself visually books.

This is a great overview of dyeing fiber. It covers both animal as well as plant fibers. The pictures are wonderful. A great intro to dyeing.

Thank you Barbara! I have just come to this medium and am very grateful that I found your book. So much is explained and you give great detail. I will use this book for a long time...as I progress. Thanks again.

I got this title out of the library before purchasing and I'm glad I did. Perhaps I'm not a "visual" learner, I just felt much of the information was repetitive. Looked at the specific areas I was interested in and found the book lacking--I'm interested in trying Kool-Aid dying, other's mentioned that there were instructions in here, but they were only for using a crock pot which I don't plan to buy just to try this dyeing technique. I know there are other methods and I can find them online, but then why would I need the book?

I have fiber reactive dyes from work with fabric and have used them in the past to dye wool, but wanted more information, all I found was information if I wanted to dye cotton, not wool.

Finally, her list of needed items didn't include any comments that much of what is needed can be found in your recycling or from a dollar store rather than spending a lot of money.

I'll stick with my 20 year old fiber dye book and online instructions while I keep looking for a good, comprehensive book on dying yarn.