surprise colour
part 2 – onion skin dyeing
I don’t cook with purple onions often so gathering enough dye material was a challenge
I asked at the produce dept. but they couldn’t/wouldn’t help
so I gathered the loose skins from the bin
approx. 50 gm. of skins and 40 gm. of yarn
same dyeing procedure – soak, simmer, remove skins, simmer yarn 1 hr. and leave overnight to cool
cotton was mordanted with a tannin and then alum, wool and silk with alum
the surprise was an olive green on the cotton
Aimee said she got a green when dyeing handmade paper
in my soggy, wet world there are some signs of Spring – hellebore
my mini workshop proposal has been accepted by the Hand to Hand committee
Scrap Happy Recycling – April 24 – 1:30-4:30 pm
the web site is http://www.cowichanh2hfibrearts.ca
registration will open on or before March 15th
it’s a great location at the Cowichan Valley Fair Grounds, very well organized
with an interesting list of workshops
ah, there’s the green i know and love! i’ve been weaving with green paper cords all week. now we know it’s probably a cellulose thing.
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Aimee – definitely cellulose BUT I get a deeper similar colour on both silk and wool using alum and an iron modifier ( marigold, rhubarb root and pomegranate skin). And it is interesting that the cotton dyed with yellow onion is definitely orange.
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I’m surprised about the red onion skin, especially considering the strong colour you got from the others… I’ll look forward to seeing what you post about your Scrap Happy workshop 🙂
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Kate – natural dye colour is all about the chemicals in the material, not the colour of the flower or the tree/bark/leaf. Purple onions are very different from yellow ones. The workshop will be about stitching boro like pieces and showing people how to use even small scraps.
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