Onion Skins
allium cepa
Allium cepa are a nice introduction to natural dyes. Ours come from India and give a strong colour.
Onion skins can be fun to work with and are often used by those who delight in getting colour from kitchen waste. Maiwa’s onion skins give shades of clear maroon-brown to golden yellow on protein fibres and lighter equivalents on cellulose fibres.
See the MAIWA GUIDE TO NATURAL DYES
Mordanting: Use alum mordant at 15% WOF for protein fibres. For cellulose, first mordant with tannin at 8% WOF, then either 1) use alum at 15% with soda ash at 2% or 2) use aluminum acetate at 8%.
Dyeing: To obtain satisfying colours from onions skins use at 20% WOF. Simmer for 1 hour, remove the skins and add your mordanted cloth to the dye pot. For a more thorough extraction simmer for an hour then let stand overnight before dyeing. Onions skins have medium fastness.
Below: Onion Skins 20% WOF
