Survey and Give-Away

I am going to give-away a package of my Red Jack Rugs Palette Wool to two respondents who answer my question about wool packaging (read on). Post your answer in the comments to this post. I'll make the drawing on March 20th.

Illustration: my logo

As I am building the Red Jack Rugs website (I will be moving the blog to this new website in about a month) and beginning to package my hand-dyed palette wools, I need some advise from you.

My wools are a new concept in the rugger's world because they are all kinship wools, created as a complete color family from my three exclusive dyes (Million Dollar Red, Amaizing Yellow, and Alexander Blue). It will mean that there will be available for sale a full artist's palette in wool, with all the tints, shades, and neutrals too.

I am packaging them in a variety of packs, all consisting of 8 pieces of wool.

8-Value pack: 8 values of one color from lightest to darkest
8-Shade pack: 8 shades (darkened color) of one color
8-Dapple pack: 8 pieces of spot-dyed wool of one color
8-Texture pack: 8 pieces of over-dyed textured wool varieties of one color
8-Primitive pack: 3 values (light, medium, dark), 2 shades, 1 dapple, 2 texture

I want to make my packs as convenient for your hooking needs and economical as I can. I only use the very premium supplies (100% Dorr milled wool and W. Cushings Perfection Acid dyes) and procedure. When my wool arrives at your home, it is ready for you to cut and use.

So if you were to buy a pack of my wool, which size would you most likely purchase?

1. $12: a pack that contains 1/5 yard (pre-washed): 8 pieces 3" by 12 1/2" (after processing)
2. $15: a pack that contains 1/4 yard (pre-washed): 8 pieces 3" by 16" (after processing)

Normally swatches are created and sold as #1, so #2 is a new idea. The strips would be 3 1/2 inches longer each, but the price point moves up $3.

I've got the color!

This week I have been in the dye pot. First I dyed the rest of the wool that I need to finish Transfiguration. I still had trouble with getting just the right shade of gray-blue to begin the top of the mountain. The batch I crock-potted on Monday was too white and bright when I hooked it in. So I added another 1/4 teaspoon of my liquid formula and I came out with the perfect color. I worked on rehooking the area last night (for the fifth and final time).

The rest of the week I worked on developing a series of new formulas. Here is a stack of my results. When I create a new dye, I dye a full 8-graduated swatch so that I know exactly how much dye per 6" by 16" piece of white wool will produce the color and value I want. Lesser amounts of the same dye will produce very different color value effects than greater amounts of the dye. I work in quart jars, stewing in the oven where I don't stir very often (if I want a more mottled look) or on the stove top where I stir constantly (if I need a smooth look). I track everything I do in a formula book, in snippets I attach to my recipes, and in one-inch swatches I keep on a ring.

This last year when creating my dyes for Transfiguration, I developed by accident a base formula that, when other colors are added to it, produce glowing colors, almost translucent. I am working on producing an entire collection of these dyes which I am calling the Red Jack Radiance dyes. Here are three examples that I created this week: citrine, fire topaz, and coral.