melle_chantilly

 I have recently aquired a cold blue primary, namely the Sapphire dye from Dharma. Well, this has been nothing but trouble and I have read enough complaint online to know that I'm not the only one.

-Edit: SO, I keep writing "Peacock" instead of "Sapphire" because it is in fact Peacock that has a bad rep. I purchased Sapphire instead, even though it isn't a true primary, to avoid all the trouble. AND I got the exact same problems people describe with Peacock. *sigh* Hence the confusion.-

So, it's a pretty colour. Although I think that deeply, I don't really like true blue. Here's Sapphire au naturel, at 1%DOS (with variegation):



(Well, there's a teensy hint of yellow, but it's not really perceptible, tbh. I just can't help it!)

The problems with this dye are numerous:

-it doesn't mix well with water. Well, there are many dyes that don't, so I could cope with this one. You have to stir carefully, and still, it's a pain in the ass.

-you should use it at once. If it sits for a day or more, the dye particle start to clump. And it leads to freckling when dyeing yarn. It isn't a huge problem at high DOS but when mixing at a lower DOS it really sucks. I've tried reheating it before use, filtering it through a stocking and a coffee filter but it still clumps. So if dyeing a pale green with this dye, chances are you'll end up with specks of deep blue here and there. Great.

-you cannot swatch it on tissue paper or a coffee filter to get an idea of what you're doing. Since the dyestock isn't homogenous, it just doesn't work. At all.

-and, if it wasn't enough, the dye particles do not seem to dissolve in water thoroughly, but sit at the bottom, which leads to a very unreliable dyestock, with mostly water at the top and a strong concentration at the bottom. Shaking, even if the dyestock was freshly made, is very important.

So, I'm looking for a true blue primary to replace this one. Any brand of acid dye. I would just really like it to be a true primary (not a mix of dyes). Any suggestions?

-Edit: I was recommended Sky Blue from Jacquard by a wonderful dyer. However I have read many bad reviews for that particular shade, which seems to behave similarly to Sapphire. I think clumping might be related to the nature of the water in one's home, its hardness and composition, since some people experiment a lot of problems and some none at all. I'm inclined to think I will have the same problems with Sky Blue but I might be wrong.-

Here's the "fun" part: I want to knit a shawl with Neon yellow and blue stripes, so I wanted to dye myself some Ophelia in merino silk yarn and then dye some in Neon yellow when I got my new batch of merino silk. Buuut Peacock acted up, of course and the blue base was muuuch stronger than the first time I dyed it. I added some yellow on top and got a completely different colour than intended.



It's still pretty, but really not what I wanted. Grmbl. I'll put it on sale on Ravelry and will dye it again. I like things to be predictable and controlled so this makes me very uncomfortable.

Anyway, it was a sort of rant, wasn't it? Here's a photo of 3 lovely skein a raveller bought from me. How lovely are they together? It's Abracadabra, Grenadine and Goth Diva.