wednesday dye project

 i set up the kitchen for dyeing a large skein of cotton yarn i had purchased from downtown yarns in april (they were doing home delivery service at the time).

 these are two gorgeous skeins of galler undyed cotton . . i think that they were, perhaps, too beautiful to dye, but i wanted to experiment with plant dyeing . . so . . on with the project!

 in april i had simmered about 50 grams of onion skins i had been saving for several months, plus a bagful from janet . . 

 and then i stored it in the refrigerator until my new stainless steel dye pot arrived. the old enamel one had a deep rust hole, which would have affected the dye results.

the new pot: a 22 quart pot for $20 . . from india and found on the amazon website.

 getting 8 ounces of cotton yarn to submerge itself in the water takes a little bit of time, and heat. it finally slipped under when it started simmering . . 

this was the scouring and mordanting process . . 2 tbl liquid scour and 2 tsp of soda ash per 16 ounces; followed by 4 tbl aluminum acetate.

 hmmm . . no treats during this cooking spree, pluto.

 i used a mask and gloves for this first part . . 

 

but these yellow gloves had a hole in them, and then pluto managed to dig his claws into the second pair i had, as they fell off the towel rack into his clutches.

 i think the next time i dye, i'll refrain from scouring and mordanting with chemicals, and just do a gentle wash with castile soap. the mordanting helps the plant dye color last through many washings, but i think that maybe i wouldn't mind the gradual fading that would happen.

 on to dinner preparations! korrina called while i was chopping shallots, carrots and zucchini.

after saying goodbye to korrina, i realized it was wednesday, and time for class with wendy.

cooking, dyeing . .

and a few tendus . . and that was the extent of dancing for the day.

here comes pluto. he had better luck with getting something to eat this time around . .

chili dinner . . 

and one skein of cotton yarn dyed with onion skins in its lavender castile soap bath.