Confessions of a Wool Dyer

When I was young, I hated my last name. I was the butt of many jokes and mean nicknames by the boys in school. In fact, one boy, William, was so mean to me in the fourth grade that my teacher stood us facing each other, and told me to slap him! (Can you imagine this happening today?) Being the mild-mannered (but obedient) girl that I was, I gently slapped him. The teasing never did stop until, perhaps, high school, but by then I was a confirmed last name hater.

My last name? Dyer.

This seemingly innocuous last name was transformed, by the imaginations of many young boys, into all kinds of interesting epithets. "Dyer-EE-ah" was very popular over the years, as was "Diaper Dyer", "Clothes Dryer", etc. These nicknames were all somehow figured out by the local boys, no matter what school I went to, and I went to many, while growing up. Over time I really came to hate my name and wished many times that it were a simple last name, like Anderson or Taylor. Or, better yet, a name that evoked the idea of Old Money, like Hastings or Windsor or Chamberlain. Anything but Dyer, please.

When I was in my 20's, I lived in Mexico for a year, and my last name was, legally, Dyer-Dupuis, according to the tradition in many countries of using the father's surname, followed by the mother's maiden name. I liked this, because at the time I identified more with my mother's side of the family, and I liked her pretty French name. And I also liked the fact that Dupuis (doo-pwee) was the last name of the two in this format, and was more often remembered than Dyer. So when I returned to the States, I kept the name. When I got married I took my husband's last name Sylvia, although I have missed my hyphenated last name over the years, especially when people accidently use 'Sylvia' as my first name.

The name Dyer is of English origin, and most likely the first 'Dyer' was literally a dyer in his community, and so would have become known as 'John the dyer' or, as time went on, simply, 'John Dyer'. And he was, most likely, a wool dyer, because in those parts wool would have been a mainstay in the wardrobe of most people. So the name is of entirely respectable origin, and it's a shame that a few mean boys would have ruined it for me.

My profession today? Dyer.

When I first began dyeing wool, the irony of my maiden name was lost on me, because it had been a long while, by that time, since I had been a Dyer. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized that I had come full circle in the history of my own family name, and I have finally come to appreciate it in the end. My father has passed on now, which I regret because he always felt bad that I hated our family name, and it would be nice to tell him that I am now proud of the name his family passed down, and that I have returned to its roots, carrying out a craft that is almost as old as time, really (although I hear there is one profession that is older . . . ).

I enjoy the fact that what I do is, with a few modern changes, essentially the same craft that others have developed, perfected and carried out as a trade for generations, and I like it for the same reason that I love singing old hymns from the 16th century--there is a connection with generations before us which in many other ways has been lost in our modern society. With the whirlwind of our technological advances surrounding us everywhere, I find it comforting to walk into my kitchen, put a big pot on the stove and stir The Wool from white into a lovely grey-green, just as my very first ancestor did so long ago.

Mardi Gras in May

This week was an extraordinarily busy week wool-wise, and by far my biggest 'sales' week to-date (although I hesitate to say 'selling' when it comes to my little darlings, the wool strips. I prefer to think of it as sending them off to their adoptive homes and retaining a fee for my services!).

I find that many rug hookers who are planning their first original project, rather than doing a kit, are a bit nervous about it, and I often help them with color and quantity planning, which I enjoy a lot. In particular, I had a new customer this week who is preparing to go to a rug camp, and she is planning a very bright Mardi Gras themed rug, with vibrant elements. It sounds so fun! She wanted the brightest, most primary colors she could get, so we looked through the inventory and picked out what we thought was best. She ordered very large pieces, so I dyed-to-order for her. Boy, the bright colors on large pieces were amazing, especially the red going into the pot -- I literally had to squint putting in the wool -- it was highly reflective! Such a beautiful red -- the name of it is 'RED Red', named by a friend of the family who loves red.



The pots above are sitting on Big Bertha, the new commercial stove we had installed for cooking wool. Oh, and I'll probably make dinner on it sometimes, too! (Cooking "dinner"? What's that??)

Yes, it was a busy week. For another customer I dyed a color called 'Gina' which is a lovely red-orange. I worked up a medium value, and it was just beautiful. Had not done that color before. I also did many primitive colors for a large order from a woman who does wool quilting in an antique or vintage style. I mottled those pieces a bit more, and the dull greens she ordered seemed just perfect for her style. To see some of her really nice things, please visit:

Folk and Formal

Click on 'slideshow' at the top to see what she does. I will enjoy seeing my wool in her work.

Now we relax in Virginia for a few days, staying in a beautiful highrise apartment that is part of the 'Semester Abroad' program that my husband administers at Dartmouth College. We'll be spending a lot of time at the Smithsonian this trip.

Working With Liquid Dyestock

I am so completely satisfied working with liquid dyestock, that it is hard to imagine dyeing wool any other way. I can fine tune formulas with brutal accuracy, and I am generally able to reproduce a color of the same formula with nary a 'dyelot' difference. Usually there is no way to tell the difference between two pieces, although this is not always the case. As my technique improves, however, I see differences in dyelot happening less and less.

I realize that most dyers are not preoccupied with the accuracy issue that so motivates me. Many are happy to throw some dye and wool in a pot and stand back to see what happens. I'm not sure if it's the frugal person in me, but I never feel that I have the money to throw around when getting results that I was not after. And I'm not the kind of artist to just throw together colors in a project and take what comes. I find the color planning process to be the most enjoyable, and at times the most frustrating, part of any project. I wish I could be more relaxed about it all, but that is just not in my nature. I envy those who do have this more relaxed approach. I envy the serendipity that brings about an unexpected result that is fabulous. I may never experience that, being so structured in how I do things. On the other hand, my customers benefit in getting a good consistent color when they buy something. (That process isn't perfect quite yet, but it will be very soon.)

Another part of this is that, since I have so many colors in inventory, I don't feel the need to 'build a stash' as many do -- simply putting the colors that may not turn out right into the stash pile. Because I already have the most enormous stash imaginable, I am looking for something specific when I dye for myself. So this also drives my need for accuracy. I guess in my situation I can always overdye the mistakes to a nice primitive brown or black and sell it as a penny rug background!

Quilting Wool

Closing in on Goals

After 1 1/2 years at this wool business, I feel a tremendously warm and fuzzy sense of accomplishment, although there is much left to do before I will feel entirely done establishing myself. My inventory is about 3/4 complete, and I am preparing to go back through each and every color to make sure all is well with the formula, the documentation, the dyestock, the listing description, and to prepare to release color planners of all the colors -- a monumental project to say the least, and one which will cost $2,000 or more upfront to finance.

In particular, I have been going back through graphics to fine tune them for accuracy. This is very time consuming work, but vital. It is hard to shop online for color, so I hope to remove some of the quesswork by at least making sure that the color on my screen looks the same as the color I am holding in my hand. I have checked my colors on other monitors, and I do find that the colors seem correct, although perhaps a little more or less intense, depending on the monitor. I have noticed that laptop screens are not nearly as good at rendering the color as desktops screens are, so I suggest the use of a desktop screen to my customers. I also try to help my customers select colors by giving a good description of the color they are viewing, as it relates to the colors around it. Also helpful, I believe, is the fact that the colors are grouped according to similarity in formula. For instance, all the colors in the Primitive color family have at least 15% of each primary in them sending the closer to the center of the color wheel. The Vibrant colors all have only two primaries, so they can be expected to be very bright. In this manner, a customer can be assured that the colors in a particular family will go well together in a project, and I find that customers tend to favor color families, often selecting colors from only one family, or sometimes two that are next to each other, for instance, from the Vibrant and Modern colors families, or the Primitive and Country families.

I believe that this way of organizing color is new, at least in the commercial arena, but it makes logical sense to me, and is the only way I could think about color really. There is a lot more detail to share about this approach, but to be honest I am saving it for a book that I hope to write about formulating colors. I hope to make it very comprehensive, in looseleaf format for easy use on the workbench, with many, many quality graphics to guide the dyer, and logical, comprehensive techniques for formulating each color family. In particular, I have what I believe are pretty revolutionary ideas for looking at the formulation of yellows, oranges and greys.

In the meantime, I enjoy the day-to-day of dyeing and adding to the inventory. The pleasure that I get from simply looking at all the colors hanging on the racks is difficult to describe. Isn't color wonderful?



Penny Rug Wool

Standing Back to Admire my Work

Day-to-day, I keep my head down and dye wool, correspond with customers, shop for wool and supplies, put together orders and all the rest. But once in a while, I feel the urge to simply stand back and look at what I have done so far. In 16 months, I have gone from having absolutely nothing relating to a wool business (except a dream), to having 160 named and organized formulas, all grouped into families, over 1,100 resulting colors photographed and uploaded to the site, and an inventory of perhaps 800 of those colors, with more added weekly as orders come in. I advertise, have links all around the web, and my site appears on page one of a search, for all the major search engines. It doesn't sound like much, but with few exceptions I have worked nearly every day at the task, with no end in sight. The good thing is that I love what I do so much, that I look forward to each project that I have before me.

This business puts into action all of my previous work and hobby experience, which makes it very gratifying. It feels like a culmination of many experiences over my life, as if I were destined to arrive here! Back in my teens and 20s, I found a Vogue sewing pattern for felt Christmas ornaments, stitched together with blanket stitch and stuffed. I used synthetic craft felt, and they were very cute. I pulled out the pattern several times over the years, made some, and sold many of them for extra money. The last time I did that was in my early 30s, and then I had put a box of them away and forgot about it as we started raising kids and got into the thick of family life. Recently they turned up during a foray to the basement. I realized when I saw them that I have come full circle -- not only do I do wool applique using blanket stitch, but I sell the product that is used. I had to smile. The irony of how I had turned a fun craft of my youth into a viable business was not lost on me!

In addition, over the years I have done office work, which gives me the skills for organizing and streamlining. Working on a computer for years has made me savvy enough to figure most things out, online and off, and I have used the computer to do graphics projects for others, even professionally. This came in handy for logo work, including putting together business cards and other stationery items. I have drawn for years, and the logo is a result of this, as will be the many patterns that appear on the site in the future. And catering, ironically, gave me lots of experience in handling big pots, and helped me to design a kitchen that is perfect for dyeing wool -- a commercial stove, a huge 2' X 3' butler's sink with a wall-mounted gooseneck faucet. Being a mom has given me patience, and an eye for working towards long-term goals, while wading through the problems of today (which are many). And, most importantly, my hairdressing experience gave me a true appreciation for making my customers happy. And did I mention that my very first job, at 16, was in a fabric shop? Boy, do I know how to measure, cut and fold yardage!

So it is exciting to see how all my past experience has prepared me from this Grand Adventure!

Quilting Wool