Natural Dye with onion skins! Alright so here’s what’s up. I’ve got onion skins and I’ve got some yarn that is ready to be dyed.
In this video I am going to show you how I do a typical dye bath when I am using onion skins. I’ve been doing a bunch of filming lately on the steps for natural dye. I did a video on scouring: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mqqXZ5teu63Og6c.html a video on premordanting: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aNBjoJyS1Lm5fWQ.html and now a video on a natural dye bath.
0:00 intro
0:22 natural dye process overview
0:35 onion skins
2:03 Making the dye bath
2:23 heat
3:30 review
4:51 dye bath before heat
5:01 dye bath after several hours
5:18 Straining the dye bath
5:40 adding the yarn
6:28 initial colour
7:09 After Colour
7:24 rinse the yarn
9:38 hang to dry
10:27 final look
12:41 Thank you Patrons
12:51 Outro
13:21 end
So I am going to just peel the outer skins off of the onions. So the average bag of yellow onions (sweet yellow onions) have these beautiful papery skins in a lovely gold, bronze, bright copper, beautiful metallic colour. That colour creates a beautiful natural dye colour. It is a really easy one to use, and I really recommend you give it a shot. If you are thinking of getting into natural dye, start with onion skins. It is so rewarding.
So I am gonna add the onion skins to a pot of water on the stove.
The pot is less than half full. It doesn't need to be too full with water, because at this point we are making a strong onion tea. We can add water later if we need it.
I will turn the heat to medium. I want to bring the dye bath JUST below a simmer, (definitely not boiling). We want to not damage the pigment. The rule with natural dye stuff is LOW and SLOW. Keep the temperature low, and steep for a long time.
You do not need as many onion skins as I use in this video. You can use the skins from one 3lb bag of onions and that will make a gorgeous bright colour! That being said, the more skins you have, the brighter, bolder, and darker your dye bath will be.
You might get more of a golden yellow if you use the skins from 5-6 onions, but, if you use triple that, you might end up with a more bold orange, burnished gold colour.
So I will simmer the dye bath for several hours. The water in the beginning is clear and the skins are separate and floating in the pot. After a few hours, the skins will soften, the dye bath will be more of a soup, and the water will take on a beautiful dark orange colour.
After several hours, I will strain out the onion skins, returning them to another pot with water to create an exhaust dye bath. With the strained liquid, I will add pre-scoured and mordanted wool, returning the dye bath and wool to the stove on low, for 1 hour.
Onion skin dye is my favourite colour.
After the hour has elapsed, I will turn off the heat and let the yarn cool down and sit overnight.
In the morning, I will rinse the yarn out in warm water, then let air dry hanging for the rest of the day.
The following day, I will twist the hank up, and show you the amazing orange we achieved from the onion skin natural dye bath!
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Last Minute Laura
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