#wool dye

'tis a shame natural dyes are notorious for never showing up on digital color displays, these are so much more vibrant in person. All onion dyes of various pH and exhaust numbers!

the wavy/shiny locks on the left are mohair dyed in the first exhaust, the bundles at the bottom are eri silk dyed in the second exhaust. The rest is rambouillet. the three on the middle are all first-exhaust with different pH, the stuff on the far right is the second exhaust that overdyed an old dye experiment that left it barely tan/yellow

this is probably done the worst by the camera... in addition ti subtle hints of orange and yellow like the ones above, the lovely olive green has been rendered grey in the pixels.

Although, one saving grace of terrible color capture is a change in the light source! All hail the Sun!

The olive is still stubbornly remaining in the plane of reality, but the lovely yellow of high pH (baking soda) on the left, tap water in the middle, and pumpkin orange of low pH (citrus juice) on the right is a lot more accurate here! it might also be because they're still damp in these photos.

But ye, onions are amazing, need no mordant (a bit of iron-mordanted wool is how to get the browns and olives, it acts as a color modifier here as opposed to a true mordant though)

oranges, yellows, tans, greens, browns, all lovely!

some notes:

• pH affects the colors, and will vary according to the source of your water. lots of things can change pH

• exhaust number affects the colors (whether you put the wool into fresh dye or dye that's already been used)

• mordant affects colors (there's lots of mordants i didn't use here, including alum, copper, tin, chrome, what have you) although onions *do* contain tannins that help alleviate the need for them in the first place. Some mordants are toxic, though, which is why i stick to alum/tannins/iron

• Type of onion skin affects colors (sweet onion, yellow onion, purple onion, shallots, whatever)

• fiber type affects the colors (the mohair absorbed less dye than the wool despite going in/coming out at the same time; even differences in breeds of sheep, especially ones with different micron counts, can change dye absorption)

so many other variables can affect the final color, including water quality, growing conditions, amounts, temperature, time, cleanliness of the wool, material of the dye pot... too many to expect to control completely. You never know what differences will show up!

This week's dyeing experiment: (cheap) burgundy wine as dye! I used one skein superwash wool and one skein of 100% cotton. It was an interesting experiment, because plant fibers dye with time and protein fibers (ie, wool) dye with heat. This process shows it really clearly--there was 1hr of simmering between photos 1&2 and it doesn't affect the cotton AT ALL, and a 24hr soaking difference between photos 2&3 which doesn't change the wool fibers AT ALL.

To recreate either of these, this is what I'd recommend (ie do as I say, not as I did):

For the WOOL: rinse your superwash wool under cold tap water until wetted thoroughly, place in your dyepot, cover with red wine, bring up to a simmer & maintain that simmer for 1hr

For COTTON: soak cotton fiber for 1 hr prior to dyeing with about a tbs of sodium carbonate, rinse, then put in a quart sized mason jar and cover with wine. Let sit for 24hrs.

In either case, you definitely want to wash your yarn with soap before hanging to dry, as wine has sugar and whatnot that will attract bugs or break down the yarn. I use dish soap.

As far as wine, I used about 2L of Carlo Rossi burgundy, not because I drink it but because I also wanted the bottle so I could brew perry in it (pear cider, it's a historic thing and i get nerdy for historic stuff lol). Any red should work, but a cabernet sauvignon or the more full-bodied, extra-tannined reds would probably work best (I'm hypothesizing, but).

Neva Yarn wool yarn

100% natural organic fine sheep wool

Yellow-blue wool for new colorful melange

I went to Peak District Yarn workshop to learn the basic dye wool.

I have learnt a lot, I thought it be messy and hard to do but no it’s so easy to do, with microwave to heat and set the colour. Wearing apron, disposable gloves and mask do help!

I learn how to make the colour mix when prepare on the yarn.. designing colours you want to see at the end result.

Yellow fine sheep wool yarn

100% pure natural eco-yarn