Onion Peel Nature Dye

Ile de France nature dye.

June 19/16

Fibre: Ile de France

WOF: 312 grams (g)

Dye: Nature dye using onion skins and alum mordant.

Format: Scoured uncarded fibre. Used leftover alum mordant rejuvenated with one tsp. alum and half tsp. cream of tartar.

Added dry fibre in a mesh bag to very large pot of prepared alum mordant. Also added very small amount of dish detergent. Brought to a simmer and simmered for fifty minutes. Drained. Rinsed briefly. I did this the morning of dye day.

Nature Dye: Three year’s accumulation of onion skins. The previous day I prepared the onion peel dye. I placed two stuffed grocery bags full of dried onion peels into a large dye pot and added water to cover. I simmered for about four hours and then let it cool overnight.

The next morning, I drained the dye liquor into a couple of buckets and discarded the onion peels into the compost bin. I poured the dye liquor back into the dye pot and added the fleece which was encased in a mesh laundry bag. The dye liquor was a very deep, dark orange.

The fleece was completely under the liquid. I brought the temperature of the dye vat up to a simmer and simmered for four hours stirring frequently.

The dye vat was allowed to sit on the stove for two and a half days while I was at work. I then removed the mesh bag containing the fleece, drained it and then placed it in the sink with lukewarm water and some dish detergent to soak for twenty minutes. A lot of colour was still washing out. Washed four times, last with TNA (Synthrapol substitute). Colour still coming out and still smells of onions.

It was rinsed in a sink of slightly cooler water, drained, then rinsed again in clear water. After draining it was put in my front loading washer on the spin cycle.

From there it was spread out on mesh screening to air dry in a summery breeze and sunshine.

The resulting colour was a dark yellow orange.

When dry, I took fifteen g and drum carded it into three mini batts of five g each for a sample.

I made three rolags. I spun it on my Ashford Elizabeth Saxony wheel on the 8:1 pulley using the woollen point of contact draw at 40 wpi. Three bobbins of five g each spun Z.

I plied on the same wheel using a ratio of 12:1 in the S direction. The wheel was set to use double drive.

Fibre: Ile de France

Preparation: Drum carded rolags

Spinning Technique: Woollen. Point of contact. 8:1. Double drive. Plied 12:1. ZZZ S.

TPI: 4.6 tpi

Twist angle of plied yarn: 36°

WPI: 13

Bradford Count: 3/7s [1]

Finishing: Very warm water with dish soap. Rinsed in warm water twice. Wuzzed. Hung to dry.

Suitable end uses: Cardigans, mitts, hats, slippers, upholstery, rug weft.

Notes: This is a short stapled fleece. It is not soft.

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[1] 8 yd / 5 g * 454 * 3 / 300 =

Summer Almost GGGone???

Having had a night where my sleep ended at 2:30, I gave up & decided to use the time for dyeing some wool.

I didn't grow any woad this year, but I had a 5 gallon covered pail of a woad vat I made last year & didn't use. Everytime I left the house I had to pass by the pail which I looked at from the corner of my eye. Not one to waste much, I had too much time involved in it already.

Heck, just harvesting the leaves for that strong a dye probably took me 1.5 hrs. alone. Not to mention the time involved at the stove & stirring, etc.

So last night I went over my old dye notes and looked at some articles from some books on the subject and mentally prepared myself. I had in mind the wool (an assortment of my combed top, my carded batts, and homespun skeins) last night too.

I have loosely planned 3 rugs in variegated colours of coarse fibre I have been preparing over the past 3 yrs. I figure I will need 6 lbs wool for each rug. The rugs will have a dark warp and many shades of green, both from acid dyes & nature dyes.

Anyhow here are a few pics from today.

Woad over G. Marguerite & on white wool on botton.

All 5 skeins.

Batts & top

Skeins Drying

Batts & top

The Day's Work Summed Up

Clun Forest Walnut Dye

This past fall I was given a bag of walnuts from a tree that was felled in Brantford.  I used some & left others soak for a few months. They froze into a solid mass in a 5 gallon pail on my deck. When my hubby decided to get rid of them I decided it might be time to carry through with the project I began those many weeks ago.

I have Clun Forest roving that is very white that would suit the mittens I would like to make as a thank you gift for the walnuts received for the last couple of years to the lady that had the tree.

I have a young walnut tree on the property that only this past season has yielded any walnuts. I was very pleased to have gathered 8 this past fall.

Here it is in pictures.

White Clun Forest roving from ' fibregarden.ca '.

Roving added to dyepot in netting for easy handling.

Starting to take the colour. Temperature being raised to 180F then turned off to soak.

Time to remove the wool.

Draining in sink; ready for rinsing.

Rinsed, spun, ready to hang for drying.

 When this is dry I will show the spinning part of the project.

Walnut Dye

And today, the last of my three days off I boiled up some walnuts a friend had given me last fall. They had been sitting in plastic bags on my deck all winter and just the other day, a critter of some sort had nibbled into a bag. So without looking at them more than I had to, I loaded them into my dye pots & boiled for 1 and a half hours. It did look inky. The smell sort of reminded me of the smell of chocolate baking. Just 'sorta'. Otherwise it was bearable; not too bad.  

The fibre selected was 104 g BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) which I soaked in soapy water then did an iron mordant for 45 minutes at a simmer. Afterwards I washed & rinsed the fibre. The dyebath was prepared by now & I strained one pot for this to be a strong dyebath. I added the fibre & simmered for 1 hour. 

After removing the fibre from the dyebath, I placed the fibre into a container of very hot tap water to which I added 4 T. vinegar. I let it soak for 10 minutes. 

Fibre was then washed, rinsed, washed and rinsed several times until the water was fairly clear. After wuzzing, I spread it out to dry in a sunny & breezy spot.
Here's what it looks like drying.

BFL walnut dyed. Iron mordant. Vinegar rinse.

 Not quite as dark as I had hoped.