I followed the instructions in Jenny Dean's excellent book, and mordanted the textiles overnight in a solution of alum crystals and Cream of Tartar (the stuff you bake with!). Mordanting helps to make the dye fix more permanently. Meanwhile, I prepared a dyebath by simmering my onion skins in water, and then leaving to steep overnight. Next day, I sieved the dyebath to remove the onion skins, and then removed the fabric from the mordant and transferred it to the dye, which was by now a wonderful port-wine colour. Brought to simmering point and kept there for 45 minutes, it yielded the following rather amazing colours:
The silk is slightly darker than the linen, which is what I would expect (animal fibres like wool and silk are structurally easier for the dye to penetrate than vegetable fibres like cotton and linen). Interestingly, the linen is a bit patchy - running my fingers over the fabric, it appears that dye uptake has been better (and hence there is a deeper colour) in the parts where the linen is worn and the surface slightly roughed up - presumably breaking down the surface smoothness of the fibres has made it easier for the dye to 'take'.
Warned that excessive heat might lead to the silk losing its lustre, I used my jam thermometer to ensure that the temperature of the dyebath remained below 80 degrees C, and as you may be able to see from the pics, there has been no loss of lustre. It would seem that I now need to have two jam thermometers, as it's really not a good idea to use the same implements for dyeing and cooking!
Being able to dye my own yarns, and especially the scrims, linens and silks I use in Nuno felting, will add a whole new dimension to my work, and I fear that I am, after just one foray into the wonderful world of natural dyeing, completely addicted...
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