Oddments of recycled cotton and linen scoured then left to soak in mordant overnight .... a few days out in the sunshine to get rid of the vinegary smell ........
... dyed in various batches of onion dyes ......
... I really should have tested a few scraps to see how light fast the dyed fabric was ... but I'm far too impatient and made a few sample books instead ....
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... painted the fore-edges with really concentrated dyes ...
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I'm interested to see how fast the colours fade ... if at all ... fingers crossed!
What a lot of gorgeous sunshiney goodness from the onion skins! I'm itching to have a go at natural dyes using garden produce myself, when I can find the time. These are lovely. But how do you know if it will be light fast? Can you tell quite quickly? I would hate to go to all that work, use the results in other crafts and then have it fade.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janice. I'm afraid I don't have the answer as I am still learning and experimenting. I do know for certain that red cabbage dyes fade almost immediately, which is a shame as they produce some wonderful colours. The best place to look for answers is Claire's blog http://clarabellacraft.blogspot.co.uk/ .. she's an expert :)
DeleteThanks Kate. Your latest dyeing experiment is looking beautiful too. I've just planted some madder and some woad and I have coreopsis and marigold, amongst others, but haven't actually done any dyeing yet. I will be sure to avoid red cabbage but would love to have a go with the onion skins. It seems such a waste to throw them out when you can do this with them! I've been reading Claire's blog too.
DeleteThank you Janice .. you absolutely must have a go with the onion skins ... now! I am afraid the Black Birds ate my woad seedlings .. I hope it turned their poos blue! :)
DeleteI have rather over-catered in the woad department! It's a pity I'm at the other end of the country or I could let you have a few!
DeleteThese look fantastic! The onion should be fairly fast unless it sits in full sun and if you add vinegar to red cabbage then that makes it pretty fast too. Have you tries chopped avocado skins and stones? It give the most wonderful coppery pink, works without a mordant and is substantive (fast) too.
ReplyDeleteThank you! How funny ... I've just made a batch of avocado dyed fabrics and threads (there's a photo on my FB page).. but eeek!! ...I didn't use the stones, I hope they weren't the magic ingredient.
DeleteI will try the cabbage with vinegar ... thank you. x
Aha, just read underatopazsky's comment and seen the advice there about colour fastness. Thank you both!
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