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Creating and Blending Colors

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Colored CandlesDifferent shades can be achieved by mixing the primary colors red blue and yellow together. White can help you achieve a paler shade while black can darken your candle color.

To test your color, try putting a bit of the dyed wax on a paper towel and wait for it to dry. If it’s not dark enough or too light you can then adjust it before pouring. It’s hard to tell what the color will look like just by looking at your melted wax as some colors can appear quite clear while still in their liquid form.

    Overheating can affect the color of your dye and it’s also important to make sure you have no particles left floating around if using solid chips or blocks.

    Basic color mixing ideas:

    • Blue + Yellow= Green (the more yellow the lighter the green)
    • Yellow+Red= Orange
    • Blue+Red= Purple
    • Blue+Green=Turquoise/Teal

    Some people use liquid candle dyes and others use solid dye blocks or chips. I prefer the dye blocks and chips because they’re not as messy and I find it easier to be accurate with the amount I put in. One the other hand starting out with one bottle of red, blue and yellow liquid dye and experimenting that way with color mixes can be fun.

    Reddig-Glo has a handy booklet which I purchased for 3.99 but it’s probably cheaper in the US. They have tons of blending suggestions for their color chips and also include troubleshooting and special effects in candle making.

     

     

     

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    An Easy Scarf to Use Up All Your Scraps

    If you’ve been around here long, you know that I’m in a perpetual battle with my stash. I feel like I haven’t bought yarn in years unless I needed it for a specific project. I knit fairly a lot, and crochet some, too, but it feels like my stash never gets any smaller.

    It’s not just the unused balls of yarn that are a problem. In fact, maybe a bigger issue is all the odd balls and leftover bits that seem to pile up without any effort. Even though I love scrappy projects (and knit a whole sweater dress with scraps earlier this year) it still feels like a never-ending quest to use up all the little bits.

    So I’m always on the lookout for good patterns that are made to use of the extra bits of yarn. If they are super easy, too, that’s so much the better.

    So it is with the Lalu Scarf by Sheena Stone. This any yarn, any gauge pattern is designed to use up whatever scraps you have on hand (assuming they’re mostly the same weight or can be held double to make the same weight). 

    It’s a tube scarf worked in the round, and she specifically notes that she works it outside in, so the back of the scarf is on the outside as you knit. The needle tips are on the part of the circle farthest away from you as you knit.

    It also has an attached I-cord edging, which sounds really time consuming but does give the edges a nice, finished look.

    The way the colors are changed as you knit you don’t really need a lot of each color. It would probably be good if you had at least enough of a color to complete one round, but you can change colors more often than every round if you need to because you’re using all your tiny bits.

    Grab the free pattern on Ravelry.

    [Photo: Sheena Stone.]