Exploring Color Interaction Through Spinning with Neps

by Meagan Condon

Exploring Color Interaction Through Spinning with Neps

by Meagan Condon

www.luthvarian.com

As fiber artists, we thrive on playing with colors and textures. Josef Albers, one of the greatest color theorists of the 20th century, asserted that color is best studied through experience. What better way to experience the fickle nature of color than through experimental fiber arts? Using this sampling technique can help you choose and develop new color combinations for your projects!

In this tutorial, we will explore how a color can look completely different depending on what is next to it. When a color is placed against a contrasting background, it changes how we perceive that color. In this case, we will be placing small dots of one color onto a solid of a different color by incorporating neps into our fiber preparation.

For my examples I used three color pairs — analogous (hot pink and orange), complementary (purple and yellow), and monochromatic (light and dark blue). I selected these very different types of color schemes to highlight how wildly different the optical illusion can appear when we pull from different areas on the color wheel.

You can choose whatever color combinations you would like to test. The ultimate goal of sampling in this way is to help you choose color combinations based on how colors interact.

What You'll Need

blank

1/2 oz of dyed Corriedale or other medium wool (base fiber)
1/4 oz wool or cotton neps in a contrasting color (add-in)

blank

medium wool carders
Matchless spinning wheel
knitting needles sized to the yarn you spun
niddy noddy or Ultra Umbrella Swift
Zoom Loom (optional)

blank

Wool wash

Directions

blank

Begin by dressing the carder with a thin layer of the base wool. This helps prevent the neps from getting stuck.
Spread and press a generous amount of neps onto the surface of the carder. Aim for a blend of at least 50% neps to wool, because several of these neps will likely fall out during spinning and knitting.
Add another thin layer of wool on top, creating a fiber sandwich with the neps in the center.
With 2-3 passes, card the fiber until the neps are well-incorporated into the batt. The base fiber should easily hold the neps in place.
Lift the carded batt off the carders or roll it into a loose rolag, whichever preparation is more comfortable for you to work with.

blank

Spin singles with the freshly carded batt (we will end with a 2-ply yarn). Neps can fall out of the yarn as you are spinning, but there are a few tricks to making this process easier. We want to make sure they are anchored in the yarn. When you get to a nep, make sure that it is in the center of the draft zone, not on the outside. Do this by folding the base fiber over the nep or by layering a few wisps of base fiber over the nep. As you apply twist, the base fiber cyclones around the nep and acts like a net that traps it in place. Ensure that you add enough twist to your singles that the tiny fiber nets don’t completely untwist and allow your neps to fall out during plying.
Ply two singles to create the 2-ply yarn.
Wind the yarn onto a niddy noddy or swift to create a skein.

blank

Soak the yarn in hot water. Use wool wash as desired.
Apply mild agitation, rubbing the yarn gently with your hands. At this point, any neps that are not well anchored will fall out of the yarn. The agitation will provide fulling or a mild felting that will help the neps stay firmly anchored in the yarn.
Allow the yarn skein to fully dry without any weight added to it.