I hosted another dyeing day at my house a couple of weeks ago, as part of a donation I made to the school's silent auction. I made my very first dyes and I really wish I could adequately sum up how gorgeous a bunch of boiled yellow onion skins can become. And FYI: I later boiled red onion skins and just like the Internet had promised - they made an olive green dye. Go figure. I also made orange from madder root and indigo.
And despite the rain, the other moms and I had a lot of fun. We made these!
I mordanted the silk, felted wool, and cotton with alum. I am thrilled to have the wool, because I have big plans for making more felted crafts. The silks turned out predictably well, although leaving them out in the pouring rain over night was not a great choice on my part. Ed helped the kids tie-dye a few shirts, but we're going to do this again. They needed to let the color soak in a bit more, and needed to be kept out of the driving rain. As it stands, the color is pretty light, but they still love them.
Lucky for me, I volunteered at Miriam's Kitchen on Monday morning, and a shipment of yellow onions came in. The chef agreed to give me the skins, so I am already prepared to make another batch of yellow dye. Now I'd like to find a few more natural dyes I can make from other things around my home (rather than ordering them from Dharma Trading Company as I did for the dyeing day. The Lew Freeman Memorial rosebush (the last of about 75 roses that were on our property when we moved in) is set to bloom soon, and I'm going to boil those buggers up and see what I get. I tried boiling azaleas tonight but they produced no soluble color.
Some of the ladies who attended the dyeing day are ready to plan another for the fall. I'm ready, too. I love this stuff! Maybe my mom will make Helen a little linen sundress that I could dye sometime. Wouldn't that be cute? She wears a 3T!
Elaine
Thanks for the Hint. One never knows. it just might happen!!
ReplyDeleteI used natural colors for my eggs this year. I did turmeric for yellow, which turned out beautiful! Some eggs had more of an orangy-color, so that might work as an orange substitute. I also did beets and red onion skins for a lovely ruby color. When the eggs first came out they were stunning, but after refrigeration, they turned a yucky reddish/brownish color (think dried blood). I wonder if beet color would work better on fabric.
ReplyDeleteI also read that red cabbage can be boiled to get a decent blue color.