hi... i just wanted to post some links. you may already know about how to dye easter eggs using something other than food coloring or paas, but just in case you didn't....
wendy sent a link to this blog post from made by adrienne that shows a step by step onion skin coloring technique.
and jen posted a link to martha's version of how to do it [i love the photo of the bowl of pastel eggs].
i also found these instructions on the celestial seasonings website [which also has some great reading on the benefits on all different types of tea - a different topic entirely, but....].
i'm also really curious as to how dying fabric with these techiniques would turn out. anyone tried it??
I love how the natural dyes turned out, I think I'll have to start experimenting.
ReplyDeleteI'm having flash backs to my elementary school science fair project on natural dyes. I tried all sorts of things to dye muslin. Beets work great. I'm not sure if I tested it through the washing machine to see if it was durable but it's fun to experiment.
ReplyDeleteYay Easter - everyone should hug a bunny!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love this new blog!
ReplyDeleteFun post Lisa, I've had great success dyeing wool felt and other natural fabrics with onions in the past, but I never thought to try it on eggs.
ReplyDeleteHad messy fun with beets too, and mosses (not rare ones, obviously). And let's not forget the great success at forgetting to wear gloves and staining my hands every time :0)
There is a fantastic book about natural dyes, I will try and find the name of it, not been to the library for a while.
The book may be _Wild Color_, by Jenny Dean. Or _Indigo, Madder, and Marigold_. Wool or cotton fabric can be dyed with vegetables, but you need the right mordant. It's supposed to be hard to get anything to stick to linen very long.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried fabric, but a couple months ago, I tried dyeing wool yarn with a natural dye bath made from blueberries. Long story short, the yarn turned a mucky gray, but my *fingernails* were a lovely shade of purple for the next couple days. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe right Mordant is KEY to any kind of natural dye. If you are in the bay area I HIGHLY reccommend checking out Dahrma Trading Company. They have a SLEW of information on natural dyes, the mordants and sodas to develop them and gloves to protect your fingernails!
ReplyDeletehi lisa! thank you for these links! the martha photo is gorgeous... i never thought about these kinds of colors from natural dyes before... they are beautiful. and i love the patterning from onion skins.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Moscow, Russia over an Easter Holiday and we used the onion skins to die our eggs. We did one variation to the process. We use small leaves or blades of grass and pressed them on the egg, then placed them in the stockings carefully making sure to pull the hosery tight around the egg. Then place them in the dye. Most times the image would remain white.
ReplyDeleteI've dyed wool-yarn with onion skins. (years ago when I knitted a lot) It turns out a lovely shade of brownish orange. You could probably get a whole rance of colour from yellow to brown, depending on the amount of onion skins.
ReplyDeleteedit: range of colour
ReplyDeletewonderful project, this blog, by the way!
I took a textile class several years ago, and dyed some cotton with red onion skins. Actually, I tie-dyed it. I dyed another fabric with some sort of tea leaves in a similar color (loose tea, not bagged) but I don't remember the name of the flower right now. Both turned out beautifully. I remember researching mordants to use the correct one (salt? Sorry, it was too long ago), and then had to heat set it with an iron. Really fun though, and I'd like to learn more about this. I know a woman who dyed some fabric with peach pits, but it was a time-consuming process.
ReplyDeleteSome fabrics are naturally in color. I hope Fox Fibre is still around--it is organic cotton that grows in color (rust, green, etc). Sally Fox started the company in the mid-90's I believe.
My mother dyed eggs with onion skins and lace way back in the '70s. She still has them and brings them out every spring. They look very interesting and are filled with sand so they're heavy as well.
ReplyDeleteI've also messed around with dying muslin with berry juice, tea, onion leaves, and other botanicals, just for fun. There are several books on the subject out there. I've also found blogs by people who grow indigo and use it for dying.
thanks for the reminder! I love this project. It makes for lots of ooohhs and ahhhs. So much better than chemical colors. Check out my results!
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