Natural Dying
4-5 hours
Ages 8+
What Will You Learn?
Imagine a world with no colored fabric. Look in your closet, at your furniture, at your towels and your curtains. Imagine everyone dressed only in white. Such a drab existence does not suit human beings. Long before Rit came in packets, color was everywhere. Beautiful colors were produced from plants, wood scraps, mud, shellfish, even bugs.
My friends and I once spent an entire summer experimenting with natural dyes. It was a fun way to bring more color into our lives; it’s sure to be the same for you. Many natural sources of dye are still available today and are simple to use. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to dye wool using the ubiquitous onionskin. This is a grand project for adults and children, singly or in groups (supervise children!).
About Mordants
Mordants: Pump Up the Color Besides natural dyes, mordants were used from very early times. Mordants help the dye molecules bond to the fiber and offer a richer color. In other words, mordants help your material to hold the dye and intensify the color. Common examples (and suggested amounts) include:
- Alum (2oz/lb of fiber) — Available as a mineral powder, or use an aluminum pot.
- Iron (½oz/lb of fiber) — Available as iron sulfate or rust, or use an iron pot, such as a cast iron Dutch oven. » Tin (2/3oz/lb of fiber) — Available as tin chloride.
- Copper (2/3oz/lb of fiber) — Use as copper sulfate, or use a copper pot.
- Chrome (½oz/lb of fiber) — Use as potassium chromate. When using chrome, please note: WARNING! TOXIC – Handle with care.
Use a Mordant Before, During, or After the Dyeing Process
Pre-mordant — Dissolve the mordant in 4gal of water (for 1lb. of fiber), add the fiber you’ll be dyeing, and simmer for ½–1 hour. You can then put your fiber directly in the dye pot or you can dry it and do your dyeing later.
Mordant during dyeing — Add the mordant to the dye pot along with the dye. Heat to dissolve, add your fiber, and continue heating (at a simmer) for ½–1 hour. This is considered to be less effective than pre-mordanting.
Post-mordant — Simmer water, dye the fiber for ½–1 hour, then add the mordant and simmer for another ½ hour.
You can get many good colors using only alum, which is safe to work with and readily available in the spice section of grocery stores.
Learn the Basic Dye Recipe
Step 1
For a dye bath for ½lb of plant or animal fiber:
Use about 4gal of water. (If your water has a high mineral content, it may alter the color of the dye. If you care about this, use bottled or distilled water.)
Step 2
Add dye matter. Formulas are available online and in many excellent books on natural dyeing (see Resources on page 154). If experimenting, start with equal weights of dye and fiber.
! WARNING! Once you use a pan for dyeing, don’t use it for cooking. You can’t be sure all plants and minerals are safe.
Step 3
Simmer the pot for ½ hour or so to release the color from the plant material, then remove the plant matter. If you leave the plant material in the pot with your fiber, the color may be uneven. If you like variegated color, leave the plant material in!
Step 4
Add pre-mordanted fiber and simmer ½–1 hour. Let stand overnight, or remove the fiber at this point.
NOTE: It’s impossible to color-match plant dyes. The plants you’re using may grow in different soil, weather, and water conditions, and there may be a number of varieties within the species. Fibers also take dyes differently.
Dye your Yarn with Onionskins
Step 5
So much for the generalities. Now let’s dye wool yarn with onionskins (yellow and red mixed).
Mordant the wool in an enamel pot containing 1–2oz of alum dissolved in 2gal of water. Our actual weight of fiber is ½lb. Simmer for ½ hour. Let cool in the liquid, then proceed to dyeing, or let the fiber dry and dye at a later time. You can reuse this water for mordanting more fiber (but not for dyeing).
Step 6
So much for the generalities. Now let’s dye wool yarn with onionskins (yellow and red mixed).
Mordant the wool in an enamel pot containing 1–2oz of alum dissolved in 2gal of water. Our actual weight of fiber is ½lb. Simmer for ½ hour. Let cool in the liquid, then proceed to dyeing, or let the fiber dry and dye at a later time. You can reuse this water for mordanting more fiber (but not for dyeing).
Step 7
To prepare the dye pot, place ½lb onionskins in 2gal of simmering water for ½–1 hour. Remove the onionskins, if desired, and then add the mordanted wool (wet or dry) and simmer another ½–1 hour.
Alternatively, place the onionskins and the mordanted wool in 2gal of simmering water, and simmer ½–1 hour. (Skins can be placed in a net bag if desired.)
NOTE: This same procedure can be used for many protein fibers, including wool, mohair, alpaca, llama, rabbit, and dog, and also for most dyes on cotton and linen.
Step 8
Try other dyes to achieve different colors, such as madder for red and eucalyptus leaves for brown. Yellows, browns, and reds are easy to get, but blues from indigo and woad are more complicated. Many books will suggest different plants to dye with. We did experiments with 50 plants in a summer; Ida Grae’s book Nature’s Colors lists 250.
TIP: The fibers don’t need to be white; interesting colors come from naturally colored fibers and from overdyeing previously dyed things.
NOTE: If you are a more casual type of “cook,” play my favorite “what if” game, and just throw a bunch of fiber, a bunch of onionskins, and a tablespoon or so of alum together and go with it! Play and see what happens.
Rinse and Dry
Step 9
Lift your fiber out of the pot, or drain the liquid off.
Step 10
Rinse the newly dyed fiber with water that’s about the same temperature as the liquid you took it out of. Rinse off the excess dye until the water runs clear. Do not agitate the wool.
Step 11
Air dry (don’t use a hot dryer!). Now you’re done. Enjoy!
What's Next?
Variations
Mordant some yarn with alum, and some with iron. Then dye them both with onionskins. You will now have 2 colors to work with. If you put more than one color or type of fiber through the same process together, you will have several colors to use together. A vast array of colors can be achieved by overdyeing one color over another, and by using different mordants. Your options are endless. Have fun!
Dyes to Try
» Rich browns — walnut hulls, eucalyptus leaves
» Reds — madder, cochineal bugs
» Brilliant yellows — lichens, safflowers
» Good yellows — onionskins with alum
» Oranges — coreopsis and onionskins, dahlias with tin and iron
» Greens — somewhat difficult to get without overdyeing. Overdye a yellow with indigo. Try using copper or iron as a mordant, which produce an olive green with some natural dyes.
About the Magazine
Looking for some projects to fulfill your crafty needs? Look no further! Snag a copy of our sister publication, CRAFT, and delve into a world of DIY delight! From decorative issues, seasonal and event issues, with arts of all types, these mags will quench your crafty thirst! Find it in the Maker Shed.
Materials:
- Alum, 1-2 oz., available as mineral powder or use an aluminum pot
- Water, up to 4 gallon; distilled or purified
- Natural Fiber, ½ pound, such as wool or something like a pair of wool socks
- Onionskins, ½ pound, yellow or red, Ask your friendly grocer if you can scavenge through the bottoms of onion bins.
Printable PDF: CRAFT Natural Dying
Maker Camp Project Standards
Based on NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
National Core Arts Standards
The National Core Arts Standards are a process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school. These standards provide goals for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts with cross-cutting anchors in Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting through art. The Anchor Standards include:- Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
- Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
- Refine and complete artistic work.
- Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
- Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
- Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
- Perceive and analyze artistic work.
- Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
- Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
- Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
- Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.Structure and Properties of Matter
- Grades K-2
- 2-PS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
- 2-PS1-2. Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
- 2-PS1-3. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
- 2-PS1-4. Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
- Grades 3-5
- 5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
- 5-PS1-2. Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
- 5-PS1-3. Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
- 5-PS1-4. Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
- Middle School
- MS-PS1-1. Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
- MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
- MS-PS1-4. Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
- High School
- HS-PS1-1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.
- HS-PS1-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.
- HS-PS1-8. Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.
- HS-PS2-6. Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.
Chemical Reactions
- Middle School
- MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
- MS-PS1-5. Develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.
- MS-PS1-6. Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
- High School
- HS-PS1-2. Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
- HS-PS1-4. Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.
- HS-PS1-5. Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation about the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which a reaction occurs.
- HS-PS1-6. Refine the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium.
- HS-PS1-7. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that atoms, and therefore mass, are conserved during a chemical reaction.
National Core Arts Standards
The National Core Arts Standards are a process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school. Also see Standards with cross-cutting anchors in Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting through art for Visual Arts.NGSS MS.Engineering Design
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.- MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
- MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
- MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
- MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
NGSS HS.Engineering Design
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.- HS-ETS1-1. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
- HS-ETS1-2. Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
- HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
- HS-ETS1-4. Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.
NGSS 3-5.Engineering Design
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.- 3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
- 3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
- 3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
