Ohhhh YES, that is an orange! And from a woman who LOVES orange, that color is absolutely gorgeous! I hope that you find a project that makes use of that silk. I note that dying with food scraps is a process of discovery, not consistency. It was genuinely fun to see your results! Thanks for sharing your experimentation!
Hi Alisa. I think your experiment really worked well. What I was surprised by was how they didn’t turn out patchy at all. I loved all of the colours, silks turned out really beautifully, I also cannot wait to see what you make out of this batch of material. I love the fact you try anything and it always turns out very well. 🤗 xx
It was great to see your experiment. From what I read avocado pits have their own mordent and it recommended washing off the avocado flesh as the fat can interfere with the dye. I just used dish soap to was the skins and pits before freezing them like you did. I dyed cotton and got a pinker pink. I'm not sure if it was the fat. I used soda ash rather than alum as well. I'm loving all of your dye experiments. It gives me so many ideas.
Oh, interesting, I did not see this mentioned in the book, so did not give it a second thought. But you're right - any fat can interfere with dye. Onions surprised me the most with that orange! Thank you so much, Emilie!
My mom always got excited about dying eggs with onion skins every year! I like dying with walnut husks, coffee, and of course wine always makes a good color.
@@ThoughtfulCreativity yes walnuts & coffee both give brown but walnut is a nice dark brown. My mom still uses it to dye her wool for spinning sometimes.
I really love seeing the differences in dyes here. I’m not sure I’d do this myself because I’d make a huge mess but the avocado was really surprising. Super fun video
I think they turned out beautiful! I would call the pinkish one kind of a blush. Another thing that is very popular over here is dying wool with things like onion skins, red and the yellow, berries and twigs and leaves. This is a knitting country, with sheep all over the place it's what you do with all of the wool. Alpaca's are getting very popular too. There is so many things in nature that you can dye with, even different types of tree leaves and twigs create different colors.
Your experiment was so much fun to watch. I really look forward to your vid on making buttons. Something I have always wanted to do is make interesting one-of-a-kind buttons for my apparel. You are creative to the max; and I'm using many of your videos for drafting my own patterns. Thanks so much for sharing your how-to knowledge.
When I was a child, my Polish grandmother would dye easter eggs in onion skins for my sister and me. They turned out a beautiful rich chocolate color & when you polished them with a little bit of Crisco, they looked like chocolate eggs.
I, many years ago, dyed a white pillow case with rose flowers. The pillow case I treated the same way as todays dyes. It came out a gorgeous lilac, I was ecstatic being a purple fan. ,
Every Easter my children and I would make natural dyes to dye their eggs in. We would make different kinds, adding new ones as we thought or heard of them. Sometimes we would add food flavoring like cherry, almond, etc for a nice scent. It was always lots of fun!
Avocado skins alone will give a cleaner pink color, adding the pits gives the avocado dye a more nude or peach tone. I've done both with paper and get a more pink tone with just the skins. Either way, both turn out pretty. Love the onion skin orange! Both turned out perfect for a fall project 🤩
Oh, good to know - thank YOU so much for this info! The onion skin orange surprised me, and overall - the colors are solid, I was not expecting such good coverage, but here we are! I am excited to use these up in a project :)
It does, doesn't it?! :) I noticed that only when I was editing the video, the orange of the silk is pretty much the same color as the orange on the t-shirt, so fun!
Hey, love your videos! You do not need a mordant when using the avocado pits in your dye bath. They contain tannines, which is a natural mordant. You can also dye with tea and coffee without using a mordant, because of tannines. You can achieve a colour variation with the same "skin" if you change the pH in the bath. And therefore the colour can depend on where in the country you are dyeing your fabric, because of different pH in the water. Love seeing what you are up to next. Greetings from Denmark/Sweden. /Jessica
Hi Jessica, I followed the steps in the book for both - onions and avocados and both required a mordant :) thank you so much for your input and experience - it always shows that there is more than one way how to go about it, same as in sewing! :)
Yes. I do with all local.plants that have been known to be light and wash fast. Fabrics do mneed to be scoured and mordanted properly first in order to be color stable.
Hi Alisa, both dyes came beautiful.. The onions peal turned like a rusty orange and the Avocado like NuDe .. love those a Fall Colors .. in Peru for my school project I used Raw uncooked Beets .. as stamps .. my art and craft came up beautiful.. You should try Beets as well 😍😍👋
I love them too, especially silks - with that sheen of the fabric especially orange color looks like a very rich color! And... there are so many other plants that can be used to create fabric dye - it is awesome!
Omgee your channel is sooo fun 🌟🌟🌟 I have never done buttons and I’m pumped to see the next video. One time I cut small wooden discs from a tree branch to try to make buttons but I ended up not following thru with the plan. Fabric covered buttons is such a luxury. I am hopelessly addicted to plant dying and I have been over dying a large portion of my stash. I’ve used turmeric, henna , onions, avocados and tea. For my silk scarf I used avocados mixed with onions and that was also a different shade and I used red onions so I got more of a blush colour. Sadly it wasn’t completely dry and I moved it and laid it on a Toronto maple leaf jersey and some of the blue grabbed on and I can’t get it off. 😩 I’m learning 😊
It did, didn't it? It was a fun experiment, onions surprised me! And you can use a ton of other things from your kitchen, check out the resources I left in the infobox, the website link is great for natural dyeing.
Jep...we did a leaf on the egg than a panty around it to keep it on its place. Than dey with union, spinazie (spinitch for green), beetroot skin for red/purple colours. And were the leaf was it kept the egg colour. I have deyd sheep wool with union skin and foodcolouring. So fun😊
Yep, that's exactly what we did - nylon stocking and rice and then the egg and when it dyes it leaves the white imprint where the rice was! It so much fun, isn't it?
Aww, thank you for watching - it makes me happy that it brings joy and creativity to people! Yes... my parents and grandparents used to do a lot of fun/creative things, it was a different time back then, but so awesome!
@@ThoughtfulCreativity yes, with chrismas making are own decorations and dipping string in wax to make candles and for evry season there was something fun/crafty and educational. And we got something special to eat or drink at those times as wel. When i watch your channel i sit and knit or folt my laundry like i have a friend over😂. And than if i want to tray something you showed how to do i just rewatch with al my materials ad hand🥰
I did some avocado dye on an old linen shirt, but nothing else. Love the two colors on the silks. My mom used to dye white lace with coffee or tea when she did not want to go the store to buy ecru or beige lace trim. It's fun, isn't it?
When I married (long ago), I wore my mother's beautiful gown from the 50s. I added a new veil, and the woman who owned the shop that helped out with my needs for my own dress and that of my bridesmaids opted to tea-dye the veil to try to antique it a bit.
You can actually use Alum for cotton too as various sources suggest, but as I mentioned in the video Aluminum Acetate is suggested for best results for cotton, which I did not have on hand.
I actually rinsed it out one more time with tap water and a bit of dish soap after it was already dry - it did not bleed any color. Mordant and scouring is definitely a must to keep the color bright and keep it in the fabric.
Wonderful video and great technique. Very beautiful orange color. I have a question that most people probably know the answer to but I do not. How do you pre-wash 100% silk? Thanks
Good question :) Silk is usually washed by hand (at least I do), there are 2 ways that I do it, maybe someone else does it in a different way, but I either 1) soak it in a tub of water and detergent and then rinse it out or 2) carefully hand wash it. Also, if you buy silk from a shop it will tell you on the bolt what kind of washing treatment it can take :)
I love how you have been venturing into fabric dying. I also watched the ice dying videos. When you dye fabrics how do you stop them from bleeding in the wash?
I use synthrapol to wash out any left over dye in the washing machine by itself and then the first time after that I wash it by itself or with an old lighter color towel, after the first 1-2 washes after dyeing I was it with the rest of the clothing and I did not have any incidents ever. And mordant (soda ash, vinegar, alum and etc) helps the dye adhere and bond to the fabric, so the dye isn't "loose" :)
Amazing. Would red onion skins then give you a redder dye? Hmmm. Great video. Loved it. I've only dyed fabric using a purchased dye. Will these colors lighten over time and washing?
Could be! :) There is a resource about natural dyes that I linked below, in the infobox - it will give you a better insight into this whole new world, which is just magical.
unfortunately I'm not an orange/brown color fan 🙁 but I asked myself in the minute I watched your very helpful video how the color will turn out if I use red onions? have you already worked with? I think I will give it a try as soon as I buy red ones. thanks for the inspiration so fare 👌🏼✌🏼
You can do a bit of research online to see what color red onion will give you + I have left a useful resource in the infobox so that will help you as well!
Polyester won't dye well, please read the resources I have listed in the infobox underneath this video as well as go into RIT DYE website and read about dyeing natur vs polyester fibers
I have tried tea- gives you nice ecru or beige, but not different colors of onion skins when it comes to fabric. For Easter eggs, I have tried all sorts of onion skins :)
Watch the PREVIOUS EPISODE - I tried making my own shoes - th-cam.com/video/vSjQw41od54/w-d-xo.html
Ohhhh YES, that is an orange! And from a woman who LOVES orange, that color is absolutely gorgeous! I hope that you find a project that makes use of that silk. I note that dying with food scraps is a process of discovery, not consistency. It was genuinely fun to see your results! Thanks for sharing your experimentation!
Hi Alisa. I think your experiment really worked well. What I was surprised by was how they didn’t turn out patchy at all. I loved all of the colours, silks turned out really beautifully, I also cannot wait to see what you make out of this batch of material. I love the fact you try anything and it always turns out very well. 🤗 xx
I think I was expecting a more uneven final project, too! Good observation that nudged my own thinking and wonder!
It was great to see your experiment. From what I read avocado pits have their own mordent and it recommended washing off the avocado flesh as the fat can interfere with the dye. I just used dish soap to was the skins and pits before freezing them like you did. I dyed cotton and got a pinker pink. I'm not sure if it was the fat. I used soda ash rather than alum as well. I'm loving all of your dye experiments. It gives me so many ideas.
Oh, interesting, I did not see this mentioned in the book, so did not give it a second thought. But you're right - any fat can interfere with dye. Onions surprised me the most with that orange! Thank you so much, Emilie!
My mom always got excited about dying eggs with onion skins every year! I like dying with walnut husks, coffee, and of course wine always makes a good color.
Onion skins make beautiful eggs! Oh yes, walnut husks give dark brown color, don't they?
@@ThoughtfulCreativity yes walnuts & coffee both give brown but walnut is a nice dark brown. My mom still uses it to dye her wool for spinning sometimes.
I really love seeing the differences in dyes here. I’m not sure I’d do this myself because I’d make a huge mess but the avocado was really surprising. Super fun video
I think they turned out beautiful! I would call the pinkish one kind of a blush. Another thing that is very popular over here is dying wool with things like onion skins, red and the yellow, berries and twigs and leaves. This is a knitting country, with sheep all over the place it's what you do with all of the wool. Alpaca's are getting very popular too. There is so many things in nature that you can dye with, even different types of tree leaves and twigs create different colors.
These colours are so pretty, definitely love the natural dye colours the best.
Thank you, Pavla! Cheers and hugs!
Those turned out beautiful. I love the rusty orange color that the onion skins made on the silk.
those silks are so beautiful, would love to make a wrap dress with them, colour blocking is all over the shops, I love it
Your experiment was so much fun to watch. I really look forward to your vid on making buttons. Something I have always wanted to do is make interesting one-of-a-kind buttons for my apparel. You are creative to the max; and I'm using many of your videos for drafting my own patterns. Thanks so much for sharing your how-to knowledge.
Oh that Avocado silk one is so pretty, very rare colour to find. Perfect match for an elegant office wearing. Love it so much Alisa.
Adore how the onion came out, particularly on the silk. Super excited about the DIY buttons.
Love both of them but that silk is amazing, now I want to try onion dyeing.
Isn't it fun? the color is so bold and bright - I was not expecting that. Very inspired!
When I was a child, my Polish grandmother would dye easter eggs in onion skins for my sister and me. They turned out a beautiful rich chocolate color & when you polished them with a little bit of Crisco, they looked like chocolate eggs.
I, many years ago, dyed a white pillow case with rose flowers. The pillow case I treated the same way as todays dyes. It came out a gorgeous lilac, I was ecstatic being a purple fan. ,
Every Easter my children and I would make natural dyes to dye their eggs in. We would make different kinds, adding new ones as we thought or heard of them. Sometimes we would add food flavoring like cherry, almond, etc for a nice scent. It was always lots of fun!
Avocado skins alone will give a cleaner pink color, adding the pits gives the avocado dye a more nude or peach tone. I've done both with paper and get a more pink tone with just the skins. Either way, both turn out pretty. Love the onion skin orange! Both turned out perfect for a fall project 🤩
Oh, good to know - thank YOU so much for this info! The onion skin orange surprised me, and overall - the colors are solid, I was not expecting such good coverage, but here we are! I am excited to use these up in a project :)
Alisa, you amaze me every time. When can we give a 2-thumbs up? They all deserve it and this one is no exception. 🌻
Thank you so much 😀So happy you're enjoying the videos, Nancy! :)
I really like the look from the avocado pits and skins, will have to try it soon.
Although I was expecting a slightly different shade - I do like the color that avocados gave - very soft :)
Those turned out lovely! Some nice fall colors! The silk orange pairs well with your lemon top 😆
It does, doesn't it?! :) I noticed that only when I was editing the video, the orange of the silk is pretty much the same color as the orange on the t-shirt, so fun!
Alisa, you absolutely captured the magic of natural dyeing with your enthusiasm! Beautiful colors! 😍
I have onion skins saved up.
OOOh, I am excited to see how your onion dye bath turns out! Thank you so much, I was very excited about this and the colors - they are bold, love it!
Hey, love your videos!
You do not need a mordant when using the avocado pits in your dye bath. They contain tannines, which is a natural mordant. You can also dye with tea and coffee without using a mordant, because of tannines.
You can achieve a colour variation with the same "skin" if you change the pH in the bath. And therefore the colour can depend on where in the country you are dyeing your fabric, because of different pH in the water.
Love seeing what you are up to next.
Greetings from Denmark/Sweden.
/Jessica
Hi Jessica, I followed the steps in the book for both - onions and avocados and both required a mordant :) thank you so much for your input and experience - it always shows that there is more than one way how to go about it, same as in sewing! :)
Have you ever tried using plants/food for fabric dye?
Yes. I do with all local.plants that have been known to be light and wash fast. Fabrics do mneed to be scoured and mordanted properly first in order to be color stable.
@@pv6450 Absolutely, that's exactly what I did :)
@@ThoughtfulCreativity looking forward to your results.!
@@majaprorocic3043 wow, awesome! What color did it give you?
Hi Alisa, both dyes came beautiful.. The onions peal turned like a rusty orange and the Avocado like NuDe .. love those a Fall Colors .. in Peru for my school project I used Raw uncooked Beets .. as stamps .. my art and craft came up beautiful.. You should try Beets as well 😍😍👋
The colors turned out pretty. The avocado cotton is more of a baby pink.
I love them too, especially silks - with that sheen of the fabric especially orange color looks like a very rich color! And... there are so many other plants that can be used to create fabric dye - it is awesome!
Omgee your channel is sooo fun 🌟🌟🌟 I have never done buttons and I’m pumped to see the next video. One time I cut small wooden discs from a tree branch to try to make buttons but I ended up not following thru with the plan. Fabric covered buttons is such a luxury. I am hopelessly addicted to plant dying and I have been over dying a large portion of my stash. I’ve used turmeric, henna , onions, avocados and tea. For my silk scarf I used avocados mixed with onions and that was also a different shade and I used red onions so I got more of a blush colour. Sadly it wasn’t completely dry and I moved it and laid it on a Toronto maple leaf jersey and some of the blue grabbed on and I can’t get it off. 😩 I’m learning 😊
The onion scarf is a match to your shirt.
I know, right? I noticed that when I was editing the video, he he ;)
Those turned out neat. I have some rfd (ready for dying) linen.....hmmm. I liked the avocado dyed cotton. It turned out like a blush color.
It did, didn't it? It was a fun experiment, onions surprised me! And you can use a ton of other things from your kitchen, check out the resources I left in the infobox, the website link is great for natural dyeing.
I'll try, thanks so much Alisha 🤩
Jep...we did a leaf on the egg than a panty around it to keep it on its place. Than dey with union, spinazie (spinitch for green), beetroot skin for red/purple colours. And were the leaf was it kept the egg colour. I have deyd sheep wool with union skin and foodcolouring. So fun😊
Yep, that's exactly what we did - nylon stocking and rice and then the egg and when it dyes it leaves the white imprint where the rice was! It so much fun, isn't it?
@@ThoughtfulCreativity yes it was like real magic. We ware real crafters at our home. Think thats way i love your channel so mutch😊
Aww, thank you for watching - it makes me happy that it brings joy and creativity to people! Yes... my parents and grandparents used to do a lot of fun/creative things, it was a different time back then, but so awesome!
@@ThoughtfulCreativity yes, with chrismas making are own decorations and dipping string in wax to make candles and for evry season there was something fun/crafty and educational. And we got something special to eat or drink at those times as wel. When i watch your channel i sit and knit or folt my laundry like i have a friend over😂. And than if i want to tray something you showed how to do i just rewatch with al my materials ad hand🥰
I did some avocado dye on an old linen shirt, but nothing else. Love the two colors on the silks. My mom used to dye white lace with coffee or tea when she did not want to go the store to buy ecru or beige lace trim. It's fun, isn't it?
When I married (long ago), I wore my mother's beautiful gown from the 50s. I added a new veil, and the woman who owned the shop that helped out with my needs for my own dress and that of my bridesmaids opted to tea-dye the veil to try to antique it a bit.
As silk is a protein and cotton is a cellulose based fabric you need to use different mordant s to get the best dyeing results
You can actually use Alum for cotton too as various sources suggest, but as I mentioned in the video Aluminum Acetate is suggested for best results for cotton, which I did not have on hand.
Have you ever used red cabbage to dye with? It's a pretty color.
Wooooww this is amazing...I wonder how it well it holds after a wash
I actually rinsed it out one more time with tap water and a bit of dish soap after it was already dry - it did not bleed any color. Mordant and scouring is definitely a must to keep the color bright and keep it in the fabric.
Wonderful video and great technique. Very beautiful orange color. I have a question that most people probably know the answer to but I do not. How do you pre-wash 100% silk?
Thanks
Good question :) Silk is usually washed by hand (at least I do), there are 2 ways that I do it, maybe someone else does it in a different way, but I either 1) soak it in a tub of water and detergent and then rinse it out or 2) carefully hand wash it. Also, if you buy silk from a shop it will tell you on the bolt what kind of washing treatment it can take :)
I wonder how red onion skins would differ and whether they would produce a rosey colour?
I love how you have been venturing into fabric dying. I also watched the ice dying videos. When you dye fabrics how do you stop them from bleeding in the wash?
I use synthrapol to wash out any left over dye in the washing machine by itself and then the first time after that I wash it by itself or with an old lighter color towel, after the first 1-2 washes after dyeing I was it with the rest of the clothing and I did not have any incidents ever. And mordant (soda ash, vinegar, alum and etc) helps the dye adhere and bond to the fabric, so the dye isn't "loose" :)
Thanks so much for the quick response. I will put your tips to use for my next project. Enjoy your day!!
Awesome experiment! The onion turned out beautifully. :)
Amazing. Would red onion skins then give you a redder dye? Hmmm. Great video. Loved it. I've only dyed fabric using a purchased dye. Will these colors lighten over time and washing?
Could be! :) There is a resource about natural dyes that I linked below, in the infobox - it will give you a better insight into this whole new world, which is just magical.
Hmmmm..... I do go through mostly red onions at my house! Great suggestion!
unfortunately I'm not an orange/brown color fan 🙁
but I asked myself in the minute I watched your very helpful video how the color will turn out if I use red onions? have you already worked with?
I think I will give it a try as soon as I buy red ones.
thanks for the inspiration so fare 👌🏼✌🏼
You can do a bit of research online to see what color red onion will give you + I have left a useful resource in the infobox so that will help you as well!
I hope you use blueberries or blackberries and raspberries another time
I have a light blue polyester dress I want to dye into like a turquoise color. Hope it works. I don’t want blotchy patches.
Polyester won't dye well, please read the resources I have listed in the infobox underneath this video as well as go into RIT DYE website and read about dyeing natur vs polyester fibers
Purple cabbage, hibiscus, tea, paprika????
Maybe add a little salt for the cotton
Use beetroot as well
Oh yes! I actually have beetroot powder at home!
Ouuu. I’m going to try this. 👍😊
Unfortunately beetroot is not stable and the color will change very quickly
Have you tried red or purple onion skins? or different kinds of tea?
I have tried tea- gives you nice ecru or beige, but not different colors of onion skins when it comes to fabric. For Easter eggs, I have tried all sorts of onion skins :)