Welcome to Color Quest, Kathy - thanks for joining! A mordant is a mineral salt used as a binder for natural color to adhere to fiber. The most common mordant is alum (aluminum potassium sulfate), but you can also use plant based binders like tannin or soy milk. I have a playlist called 'Mordants' so you can watch those videos to learn more about it. It is one of the most important steps in the natural dyeing process.
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest oh beautiful I for sure will watch them. I have watched four of your videos this morning and love them. Thank you for sharing such knowledge ❤👋👋👋
Great question, but it will most likely still have an orangish cast to it. Why not try it out? You could try to 'brighten' it by adding some white vinegar to the dye and/or pre-treating your fiber with alum. You can get brighter yellows from chamomile if you are looking for a dye source from the kitchen. Pomegranate skins also produce yellow, but it is a more earthy tone.
Welcome to Color Quest, Chris! Creating black from natural colors typically involves iron and over-dyeing. I've never tried it with onion skin as the base color, but go check out my video on making black with pomegranate and logwood as an overdye to see one way of doing it 🤎
How many onions did you use for the orange dye Byrdie? And can the peels be dry when you use them or is it better to use them fresh? I have a few oranges here that need to be eaten and I am not as yet ready for dyeing with them.
Honestly, I don't remember how many onions I used for this batch. I cook with onion almost every day, so I just keep all of the skins in a bag in my fridge. If I had to guess, I would bet this is equal to 5+ onions, but you may not need that many to get a nice saturated dye - onions are such a great dye source 🧡
Hello mam how are you?. I am fine. I have applied dyes on clothes, but when I touch dyed color area, the color is on my hand, hope you understand my problem
Hello! Thank you for reaching out. Did this happen with the onion skin dye specifically? What type of textile are you using (cotton, silk, wool)? Is it 100% natural? There are many things you can do to help make the bond between dye and textile stronger: Choose dye matter that is high in tannin, always pre-mordant your fabric (alum or tannin (see videos on my channel) or soy milk, let your textile soak in the dye for longer (one day or more), rinse your dyed textile in cool water after you remove it from the dye pot so dye that has not bonded with the fabric will wash away before drying it. Natural dyes are living color so they change with time, but these suggestions should help you with colorfast issues. Onion skin is a great dye and known as color/light/wash-fast, so follow these tips if you can. Best of luck!
Unlike cabbage, onion skins have natural tannins, so they will form a longer-lasting bond with textile even without another mordant process. However, I prefer to use fiber that has been mordanted regardless as it just gives an extra layer to extend the life of the color.
Yes, Dipti, ALL citrus will work 😊 Next week's video will be about citrus peel where I used a combination of grapefruit and mandarin. I got a fairly pale yellow, but I've seen much deeper shades. I would guess it has a lot to do with freshness of the fruit itself. It's not quite citrus season here!
No need for vinegar for this tannin rich dye matter. The vinegar is recommended for the hibiscus to 'brighten' the reds. Let me know when the onion soup is piping hot and ready to eat - yum!!
@@d.watson5412 Dyeing paper is awesome! You truly can dye paper as your fiber with any of the videos I've posted, but my Rose Dye video is exclusively with paper, and I recently posted a video on leaf eco-prints also using paper as the substrate. I will make sure to keep adding more videos with paper as the main star ⭐️
Thank you Margaret. Thumbs up for this great video and new subbie so I don't miss any more.
Many thanks to you too! So happy to have you here 💚
Ok,ok...after that let's try onion soup, onion vinagrette, onion sausage and onion forever! I love onions...imagine the red one...
Yummy! Onions make happiness in the dye pot and the food pot. There is another video here using red onion skins - check that out!
I just found your page and am a newbie can you tell me mordant is and how it affects the fabric? thank you
Welcome to Color Quest, Kathy - thanks for joining! A mordant is a mineral salt used as a binder for natural color to adhere to fiber. The most common mordant is alum (aluminum potassium sulfate), but you can also use plant based binders like tannin or soy milk. I have a playlist called 'Mordants' so you can watch those videos to learn more about it. It is one of the most important steps in the natural dyeing process.
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest oh beautiful I for sure will watch them. I have watched four of your videos this morning and love them. Thank you for sharing such knowledge ❤👋👋👋
@@kathywright3655 Super happy you are finding the videos helpful. Natural dyeing is so much fun! Wishing you happiness in your dye pot 🌼
We use our organic onion skins in our veg and chicken stocks. This is another way to use some of them up! Thank you for your experience and expertise.
Just love this so much!! Thanks for sharing another way to repurpose the onion skin 🧅 You are most welcome - happy you are here at Color Quest 💚
if you cooked the skins for less time, could you get a yellow dye?
Great question, but it will most likely still have an orangish cast to it. Why not try it out? You could try to 'brighten' it by adding some white vinegar to the dye and/or pre-treating your fiber with alum. You can get brighter yellows from chamomile if you are looking for a dye source from the kitchen. Pomegranate skins also produce yellow, but it is a more earthy tone.
Is so amazing
But how about black dye how it fix or made from onion peel
Welcome to Color Quest, Chris! Creating black from natural colors typically involves iron and over-dyeing. I've never tried it with onion skin as the base color, but go check out my video on making black with pomegranate and logwood as an overdye to see one way of doing it 🤎
How many onions did you use for the orange dye Byrdie? And can the peels be dry when you use them or is it better to use them fresh? I have a few oranges here that need to be eaten and I am not as yet ready for dyeing with them.
Honestly, I don't remember how many onions I used for this batch. I cook with onion almost every day, so I just keep all of the skins in a bag in my fridge. If I had to guess, I would bet this is equal to 5+ onions, but you may not need that many to get a nice saturated dye - onions are such a great dye source 🧡
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest thank you 🥰 I am saving my skins and need to get cooking or at least cutting and freezing onions 🤣
@@silverpromidi So many onions...so little time! Good luck 🧅
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest 🤣 thanks I may need it
Hello mam how are you?. I am fine.
I have applied dyes on clothes, but when I touch dyed color area, the color is on my hand, hope you understand my problem
Hello! Thank you for reaching out. Did this happen with the onion skin dye specifically? What type of textile are you using (cotton, silk, wool)? Is it 100% natural? There are many things you can do to help make the bond between dye and textile stronger: Choose dye matter that is high in tannin, always pre-mordant your fabric (alum or tannin (see videos on my channel) or soy milk, let your textile soak in the dye for longer (one day or more), rinse your dyed textile in cool water after you remove it from the dye pot so dye that has not bonded with the fabric will wash away before drying it. Natural dyes are living color so they change with time, but these suggestions should help you with colorfast issues. Onion skin is a great dye and known as color/light/wash-fast, so follow these tips if you can. Best of luck!
Stpski
Doesn’t the fabric smell of onions afterwards?
Not that I've noticed. I believe most of the odor from onions comes from the veggie itself as opposed to the skins.
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest Thanks so much for the reply. That’s great to hear. I will give it a try then. 😊
@@Qu4ntumDreamer Awesome. Good luck!!
Will the color from this fade over time like the cabagge one or will it stay if i use a mordant?
Unlike cabbage, onion skins have natural tannins, so they will form a longer-lasting bond with textile even without another mordant process. However, I prefer to use fiber that has been mordanted regardless as it just gives an extra layer to extend the life of the color.
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest oh ok thank you!
@@babypenguin8754 You bet! I love the color yellow onion skins makes, so have fun with it 🧅
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest I will definetly have fun!
😍🧡 I didn't know grapefruit peel gives yellow dye! Does orange peels work as dye?
Yes, Dipti, ALL citrus will work 😊 Next week's video will be about citrus peel where I used a combination of grapefruit and mandarin. I got a fairly pale yellow, but I've seen much deeper shades. I would guess it has a lot to do with freshness of the fruit itself. It's not quite citrus season here!
No vinegar needed this time?
I have a feeling French Onion soup is going to be on the menu in my house soon...
No need for vinegar for this tannin rich dye matter. The vinegar is recommended for the hibiscus to 'brighten' the reds. Let me know when the onion soup is piping hot and ready to eat - yum!!
😍😍😍😍😍😍🤩
Isn't the color from onion skin so amazing! Thanks for watching, Tatiana 🧅
It would be really nice if you started ding paper as well as the fabric...
You bet! I naturally dye paper for my art practice, so will start weaving in paper options too. Thanks for the suggestion 💚
@@MargaretByrdColorQuest Thank you for doing some paper down the line. I used to dye muslin but now only paper :)
@@d.watson5412 Dyeing paper is awesome! You truly can dye paper as your fiber with any of the videos I've posted, but my Rose Dye video is exclusively with paper, and I recently posted a video on leaf eco-prints also using paper as the substrate. I will make sure to keep adding more videos with paper as the main star ⭐️
Am used this in my pants resources Experiment home work
That is fantastic! Love to hear that these videos are helpful tutorials for school 😊