24/11/2020
Natural Tie Dyeing Tuesday
See IGTV for full tutorial by !
Onion Skin Tie Dyeing Workshop - Method:
What you’ll need:
* Onion skins - enough to fill a small saucepan or half of a large pan
* Saucepan or large pan
* Old cotton white t-shirt - but you could also use socks, camisoles or shirts!
* Wooden spoon
* A few rubber bands (preferably the neutral coloured ones)
LONG METHOD (involves leaving overnight and may result in deeper colours):
Step 1 - the night before:
Place the onion skins in the pan and top up with enough boiling water so that they can move around freely when stirred. Pop a lid on and leave to steep for 12-24 hours.
Step 2 - the next day:
Get your t-shirt or cotton garment and use your rubber bands to tie around it as tightly as possible at different stages along its length. This example shown should create a “dart-board effect”, where colour appears in rings.
Step 3:
Remove the onion skins from the dye bath (large pan), using a slotted spoon, or pour through a colander into another pan. It is important not to pour the water away! The onion skins can now be composted or put into your food waste bin!
Step 4:
Soak your garment in water until completely saturated - this will help the dye attach to it much better and soak in more evenly. Wring out any excess water and transfer it to the dye bath.
Step 5:
Turn the temperature up on the dye bath to bring it to a constant simmer (this could take up to 20 minutes). The heat will help give the dye a kickstart to work into the fibres of the garment. Leave the garment to simmer in the dye bath for 30 minutes.
Step 6:
Turn off the heat and leave the pan to cool overnight (around 12 hours).
Step 7 - the next day:
Remove your garment from the dye bath and rinse it, squeezing out excess dye until the water runs clear. The dye bath water can go safely down the sink as it is all natural!
Step 8:
You can now remove the rubber bands and see the tie-dye effect! Hang your newly dyed garment to dry somewhere warm inside, or on a clothes line outside if you have one.
And voila! Your naturally-dyed garment is ready to wear!
