The Dye Pot is On Dear Diary,

I finally got around to making the dye pot

I just do not understand where time goes

I am up before dawn and not in bed until the 

wee hours of the morning but

yesterday I accomplished nothing.

Of course I pinned, I researched and

I found some great penny rugs online

but the dye pot, the house chores and

the stitching was not accomplished.

I do believe I need a 'time management course'!

I will explain the onion dyeing below but

I must tell you what happened with 

the plastic bag of onion skins today.

It was my first time scavaging at 

the grocery store.

Lucas (son) and I were shopping when I 

noticed the onion bin had so many skins..

usually they are cleaned but today...

I got a plastic bag and

I moved every onion and filled my bag

with red and white and brown

onion skins.

Of course Lucas thought this should 

be on video and so probably

it's now on facebook!

At the checkout the girl wanted to 

charge me for the skins.

Manager arrived and I explained.

After a few strange, blank looks and

a few embarrassing moments for Lucas..

I brought the onion skins home

free of charge.

As you see, I do my skins in a crock pot that 

I use just for dyeing.

I really don't know if you could use your regular

crock pot...the skins are a food substance so 

that part may be ok but 

it will stain the pot  so it may 

be difficult to clean.

Fill the pot with dry skins and 

give them a good 'scrunching' with your hands.

Add water and cook on low overnight.

Add water when necessary.

Next day drain and the water left should 

be a very dark brown.

The drained skins can be put in the pot again

for a weaker dye but I usually just throw them

in the compost as this amount of dye water

will do quite a bit of dyeing.

This is the 'mother' dye which is why I use the

long cooking period.

I will show more pictures of how to use this

'mother dye' but essentially it is as 

simple as using one quarter of the 'mother' 

to three quarters of plain water.

This can be adjusted to the shading and 

the colours of the wool you need.

Onion will dye both wool and cottons so

this is what you need to dye the threads.

Most dyers will use onion to get a golden.

beige or yellow wool.

This happens when you do not cook the skins

for a long period and when you dye light 

shades of wool, cotton etc.

This is not how I use the dye.

I gather my ugly, bright colours and yes

even the very dark colours.

Sometimes I add threads depending on

what I have on hand.

Everything goes in the dye pot with

the diluted 'mother' batch.

I won't go into the process as I will post 

that when I do a dye pot but 

when your wool comes out of this dye pot

it is different shades but all of those shades

work with each other and because

the dye is brown the wool looks 

old and primitive and you have 

a nice aged look to your rug. 

Simple, easy and you can use such

ugly wool ...it is amazing

how nice some of those pieces 

will turn out after the dye process.

I am including some links that will show

a bit more you can do to the dye bath

such as add mordants to change shades

use diffent dye pots instead of mordants and

using other vegetables as dyes.

Click below to go to the web pages.

Carrots to dye wool? I never knew!

Use Mordants to change the colours

Another site with great information

Baby will be with me tomorrow and so

I will be away from the computer. 

That's probably 'a good thing'!

Almost forgot...
Just wanted to mention
the rock wall in the photo with
the dye crock pot
is my kitchen walls and
they are 'real rocks' but
not a 'real rock wall'.
I built the wall some 15 years ago.
I used chicken wire over plywood and plaster
then used rock which I split thin and
lightweight mortar.
Took me the most part of a summer but
I love the look.

Of course I wouldn't leave you without

some nice old rugs.

My very favourite rugs to make are the tongue rugs.

Hope you enjoy!

I do not really like this one but 

it is such an unusual layout 

I have never seen a layout like this before

Oh My!  This is a Beauty!

So much work in this old rug.

Do you see the patterns?

The corners, the triangles and 

the borders.. beautiful!

A very unusual layout.

Have a great weekend and I will

be back next week to show the 

before and afters of the onion dye pots.

Thank you for visiting and your 

wonderful comments.

cee