Dyeing with Onion Skins — Orange-Gold from the Kitchen

Collect the dry papery outer skins of yellow onions — you need roughly 100 g of skins per 100 g of fibre

Place the onion skins in a dye pot, cover with cold water, and soak for 1 hour to begin releasing the pigment

Heat the dye bath slowly to 80-90°C and simmer for 45 minutes — the water will turn a deep amber

Strain the dye bath through cloth to remove all onion skin fragments

Dissolve alum at 10% weight-of-fibre (10 g per 100 g wool) in a cup of hot water

Stir the dissolved alum into the strained dye bath and mix thoroughly

Soak the undyed wool skein in warm water for 15 minutes so it absorbs dye evenly

Lower the wetted wool into the onion skin dye bath, pressing it gently below the surface

Heat to 80°C and hold for 45 minutes, turning the wool every 10 minutes for even colour

Lift a section to check — the wool should be a rich orange-gold when wet, drying slightly lighter

For a deeper burnt orange, simmer for an additional 30 minutes or leave in the cooling bath overnight

For an olive-khaki shift, dissolve 2 g ferrous sulfate in water and add to a separate rinse — dip the dyed wool briefly

Rinse the dyed wool in progressively cooler water until the water runs clear

Squeeze excess water out between your palms — never wring or twist dyed wool

Hang the orange-gold dyed wool in shade to dry completely — onion skin dye with alum mordant is very lightfast