When I was first invited to create this special bear by a dedicated collector of artist bears, I wondered how I could ensure the bear would be the perfect colourway ... my collector loves brightly coloured bears and as intense mohair colours are more often than not, difficult to source direct from suppliers, I knew it wouldn't be easy to find the perfect colours 'off the shelf'' for this particular bear. So I put my thinking cap on, sought advice from other bearmakers and found myself pointed firmly in the direction of Woodland Witch (in the nicest possible sense) Rita, who is the font of all knowledge regarding such matters!
Rita's Rainbow Dyes
I arranged to have a chat with Rita at the Hugglets show in London, to discuss how best to proceed and she kindly spent a considerable time prior to show opening (!) guiding me through my options to achieve the perfect hand dyed mohair with her 'Rainbow' dyes, created especially for use with mohair.
I mixed the carrot dye with hot water as directed and after dunking a small sample of mohair to test the colour strength, (one Marigold glove is inadequate by the way - I couldn't find the other one and consequently dyed my other hand!) plunged my mohair into the dye and left it for about twenty minutes to achieve the colour I needed.
Then I dunked my other piece of mohair into the pink potion - by this time I'd given up using the single rubber glove and dyed my hands shocking pink!
I rinsed both pieces of mohair in clear warm water, with a little fabric softener ...
At Rita's suggestion, I stored the leftover dye in a screw cap container when it had cooled, for use another time ...
... let my mohair dry in the breeze ...
... and finally, hubble, bubble, a little toil and not much trouble, here's my very colourful bespoke bear 'Calypso' a few days' later, ready to fly to the US to meet his owner!
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