By purchasing yarn from String Theory, you’re lifting up a number of small and female-owned businesses. We help women in Rwanda, who survived the genocide, educate a new generation. We help women in Uruguay find meaningful work without leaving their rural homes. We help a family in New Hampshire maintain a mill, a tradition spanning hundreds of years. We help restore the Patagonia Grasslands by encouraging sustainable farming.Every yarn we stock makes a positive impact.
Natural Dye Kits
The Natural Dye Kit guides you through the process of mordant dyeing, the most common type of dyeing with plants. It contains the pre-measured mordants and four different dyestuffs. Enough to dye a yard of fabric, a ball of wool, or an adult t-shirt, in each of the four shades - pink, purple, orange and yellow. Can be used to dye either solid or tie dye. Complete with detailed instructions geared towards an absolute beginner and take the mystery out of where to begin on a journey with natural dyes.
Ingredients: alum (a foodsafe ingredient made of potassium aluminum sulfate), gallnut (tannin powder made from the galls formed on oak trees), logwood chips (haematoxylon campechianum), osage orange sawdust (maclura pomifera), madder root (rubia tinctoria), cochineal (dactylopius coccus).
The Indigo Kit contains the pre-measured ingredients to create one organic indigo vat, with which you can dye fabric, yarn, garments, home goods and more in gorgeous shades of blue. The indigo is 100% plant based and the process is nothing short of magical, as you watch the fibres turn from green to blue as they oxidize. Comes with detailed instructions aimed at an absolute beginner, which guide the user step by step.
Ingredients: indigofera tinctoria extract, fructose fruit sugar, pickling lime
The Clay Resist Kit is batik’s cooler, easier cousin - you create a clay paste which you can apply to fabric or garment and it acts as a resist to the dye. But unlike batik, there is no hot or messy wax to deal with, and when you’re finished dyeing, you simply rinse the clay paste off with water. Uniquely formulated to work with the Indigo Kit only, the paste can be applied freehand, with stencils, blocks and more, and can be used on fabric, garments and home goods. Complete with detailed instructions aimed at an absolute beginner.
Ingredients: calcium bentonite clay, gum arabic, magnesium sulphate (epsom salts)