Tea Dyes

I'm experimenting with alpaca/cotton quilt batting from BacktoBack Alpaca. I want to make a vest. I've made a bag already and will be teaching classes around the techniques I'm using. The batting is off-white and I want it to be a pale color for my vest. What you see here are swatches dyed in (l to r) pink lemonade Kool-Aid, black tea and green tea. The green tea wins, as much as I like pink! Sonja says the pink reminds her of home insulation, so that color is now completely ruled out.

Tea dyeing: I soaked the fiber in warm water until saturated, then squeezed the excess water out and placed in a flat bottomed container. I made a strong tea--two tea bags in 6 oz of water, which I poured over the fiber, covering it completely. (I had let the tea sit while I took a shower). I let it sit for awhile--I checked email and forgot I had started this project and came back to it when I returned to the kitchen to do the dishes. The water was room temp by then. Then I put it in the microwave for 2 minutes, removed and let sit for another forgettable period of time. I then pressed the water out, rolled up in a towel to further dry and set out to air dry. Total time I spent on this project, by the clock, about 1.5 hours. Total time I actually was doing something, about 5 minutes. I have yet to work out the logistics of larger pieces. I think I have to buy some bulk tea first--this will take more than a couple of tea bags. Seems like a good excuse to check out the new tea shop in Hagerstown!