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Cutch Extract is produced by soaking the wood of the Acacia Catechu tree in hot water until a syrupy liquid emerges. It is then dries and ground into a fine powder. It ca be found throughout India, Burma, Indonesia and Peru. This extract is easily soluble in water.

• Dye Amount: 20-50% WOF for a medium depth of shade
• Color: brown, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove
• Light fastness: Excellent
• Wash fastness: Excelent

• Mordant
• Alum mordant at 15% WOF for protein fibers
• Alum mordant at 15% WOF for cellulose fibers
• Tannin mordant is not required. 

• Dyeing
• Dissolve the powdered cutch in boiling water and add it to dye bath.
• Deeper colors can be achieved by first soaking the cutch extract in a weak mixture of caustic soda.
• Add 1 tsp lye or sodium hydroxide to 1 gallon of water. Soak for 1 hour.
• Add more water and neutralize with acetic acid or vinegar to pH7. Add this neutral solution to the dye bath.
• Add fibers to the dye bath and simmer at low temperature for 2 hours.
• Cutch does not easily exhaust and dyebaths can be used multiple times for lighter shades.

• Variations
• Alum mordant yields toffee browns.
• The addition of iron at 2-4% WOF yields chocolate browns
• Soda ash rinse will redden the cutch color.
• Addition of 2% WOF hydrogen peroxide during the final 15 minutes of dyeing will darken cutch considerably.
• Allowing the fiber to cool down and sit in the dye bath overnight will give the darkest shades.

 Logwood is derived from the heartwood of the logwood tree (Haematoxylon campechianum). It yields deep rich red purples to orchid blues depending on concentration and type of mordants used. Logwwod has been use a dye source since the 16th century. The logwwod tree is native to mexico, central america and portions of South America and India. Deep blacks can be obtained with the use of ferrous sulfate. Logwood develops best in a hard water dye bath. 

• Dye Amount: 0.1-1% WOF Extract, 15-20% WOF chips
• Color: Purple and purple shades, grey and black
• Light fastness: moderate (dramatically improved with use of iron)
• Wash fastness: good

• Mordant
• Alum mordant at 15% WOF for protein fibers
• Alum mordant at 8% WOF for cellulose fibers
• Tannin mordant at 8% WOF and then alum at 15% WOF, or alum acetate at 8% WOF

• Dyeing:
• Chips: Cover the chips with boiling water and let soak overnight. Remove the chips, add addition water to cover fiber and simmer at around 170 degrees but not more than 180 degrees for an hour. For Rich colors, leave the fibers to soak overnight.
• Extract: Mix the extract in a small container of hot but not boiling water. Once thoroughly mixed, add to the dye bath and simmer for 45 minutes. For rich colors, allow the dye bath to cool overnight.
• Color Variations
• Purple-Navy: add 6% WOF of cream of tarter.
• GreyGreens: Add osage orange or fustic
• Purples: Add cochineal
• Browns: Add cutch
• Navy: dip in indigo bath
• Greys and black: add ferrous sulfate

Angelina fiber is a very fine synthetic fiber that is light reflective and light refractive. Incredibly luminescent, it is perfect for blending with other spinning fibers.

If you need larger quantities than those shown, please contact us.

Photos of shiny iridescent fibers is very difficult. Every effort is made to depict accurate colors in our photos but slight deviations may occur.

40 Gauge Crown felting needles. This needle is used for very fine work. The most common use is to add hair or detailed fur to a project. Good needle for use on reborn dolls eyebrows, eyelashes and hair.

Choose from 1, 5, 10, 25 or 50 needle packs.

40 Gauge, "S" spaced, "G" barb, Double reduced Triangular Needle

Felting needles come in many different varieties. They come in different lengths, shaft shapes, number of barbs, type of bard and shape of point. All of this can seem confusing but it doesn’t need to be. The first thing we must remember is that all felting needles are manufactured for high speed large industrial machines that makes a wide spectrum of products. Craftsmen and artist have adapted them for use as a hand-held tool. The technical names and terms have crossed over to the artist/craft community and sometimes need explanation. Below is a simplified description of each of the needles we sell. If you still have any questions, please contact us, we are happy to help.

What size and type needle do you need? Here is a breif description that should help.
https://cupidfallsfarm.com/blogs/news/what-size-felting-needle-do-i-need

How do felting needles work?
Each needle has a number of barbs that catch the fiber as it is pushed through the project. This causes the fibers to become entangled to make a solid felt. The greater the number of barbs, the faster the project will felt.

What is Gauge?
The term “Gauge” simply refers to the thickness of the barb. There are many tables on the web that will let you convert from gauge to millimeters or inched but for the craft felter, its really not important. Gauge is a simple whole number that’s easy to remember. The confusing part about gauge is the larger the gauge, the smaller the shaft size. I.e. a 32-gauge needle will have a larger shaft diameter larger than that of a 42-gauge needle. Also, keep in mind that the larger the shaft size, the larger to whole left in your project. For quick felting, 32 gauge 9 point needles will felt quicker than 40 gauge 3 barb needles. The 40 gauge 3 barb needles will, however, leave a smoother service.

How do I care for my needles?
Felting needles are very delicate and break easily if not used properly. They designed to go into industrial machines that hold thousands of needles at a time and operate in an up and down motion. Using your needles at a sever angle, twisting manor or in a manner that would cause them to bend can cause them to break. Also, take care that the pad you felt on is thick enough to allow the needles to not hit the hard surface under the pad. This is the quickest and most common way to break needles. Felting needles are for dry felting and will rust if exposed to water or moisture.

If you are purchasing needles for a multi needle tool or felting machine, please ask before you purchase to make sure they will fit.

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-Needles are very sharp, please use caution when using.
-Children should be supervised at all times while using or handling Needles.
-Always felt on an appropriate surface
-Needles are delicate, use proper care when using

Madder – Rubia tinctorium, Rubia cordifolia, and Morinda citrifolia is an ancient dye that dates back to 3000BC. It is most frequently used to produce turkey reds, mulberry, orange-red, terracotta, and in combination with other dyes and dyeing procedures can yield crimson, purple, rust, browns, and near black. The primary dye component is alizarin, which is found in the roots of several plants and trees. Madder is cultivated and grows wild throughout India, south east Asia, Turkey, Europe, south China, parts of Africa, Australia and Japan. Madder is a complex dyestuff containing over 20 individual chemical substances. Alizarin is the most important of these because it gives the famous warm Turkey red color. Also present in this wonderful plant is munjistin, purpurin, and a multitude of yellows and browns. Madder is dyed at 35-100% WOF for a medium depth of shade.

• Dye Amount: 35-100% WOF
• Color: Cranberry to Garnett
• Light fastness: High
• Wash fastness: High

• Mordant
• Alum mordant at 15% WOF for protein fibers
• Tannin mordant at 8% WOF and then alum at 15% WOF, or alum acetate at 8% WOF for cellulose fibers.

• Dyeing: Madder develops to its deepest and richest reds in hard water – water containing calcium and magnesium salts is ideal. If the water is soft add calcium carbonate (a single Tum’s tablet to 4 litres of water works well). Add dye material to dye pot and cover with water. Bring up to about 60ºC (140ºF) and hold for an hour. Add fibres and continue cooking for another 1-2 hours. For clear reds do not let the temperature go above 72ºC (160ºF). At higher temperatures the browns of the madder plant come out and dull the colour. The madder dyebath can be reused two or three times for lighter shades

  Because of the different dye components present in the madder plant, the dyer can coax many colors out and onto the cloth by manipulating the mordanting process, the pH, the temperature, and the dye process. There are hundreds of madder recipes used historically that are intriguing to try including one from Turkey which brings out the purpurin from madder and gives a purple.

  Madder, in combination with cochineal yields a true red, with iron yields garnet, bright orange with alum and cream of tartar, brick red with alum mordant and a higher heat, the addition of acetic acid or vinegar plus iron will push the color to a rich brownish-purple.