A time to dye!

I'm back in my basement with a project I saw in the summer, 2012 edition of Sew Somerset that was written by my dear blogging friend, Caterina Giglio ( whose blog is La Dolce Vita).  If you want to see Cat's article with detailed instructions on how to make her lovely pieces, I suggest you get a copy of the magazine and look for her lovely art beginning on page 40.  Those of you who know Cat, know she works with pale pastel fabric and paper (as an aside, those who follow her blog know I can't leave a comment because of the embedded comment form).  This is my interpretation of her dyed fabric.

I have already torn my fabric into useable strips.  I used an old white bed sheet I picked up last year at the thrift store.  I have placed the fabric pieces on top of my (studio) dedicated microwave oven.

The rest of the ingredients are on my work table.  From left:
Bucket of water
Empty microwave safe container to hold the ingredients
Yellow onion skins
Cinnamon sticks (these were from the grocery store, but you can also find them in craft stores and your local spice and/or natural food store)
Vinegar (I used white because it was all I have)

The first thing I did was add a bit of water and scrunched up cinnamon pieces in the bowl of water.  I placed the bowl in the microwave oven (my method of choice) and checked it every thirty seconds.  During that time, I realized I would need something to remove the cinnamon sticks and a container to put them in.  It was a mad dash to get the bowl and spoon in 30 second intervals, although I knew where both were.  After three minutes, 

I felt confident that the cinnamon sticks were ready to be removed from the water bath.  What a MESS.  It took forever to remove all those cinnamon pieces, after which I had to reheat the cinnamon bath.

After reheating the bath, I added a splash of vinegar, an optional step.  Cat provided specific measurements and instructions for these dyeing techniques in her article, but I'm more a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal.

After I placed the fabric in the dye bath, I was marginally disappointed.  One thing Cat cautioned was to make sure not to let any of the fabric sit outside the dye bath.  Of course, I did just the opposite since I prefer that mottled look and strive for it.

I decided to leave the fabric in the cinnamon water overnight and found another microwave safe bowl.  It was barely large enough for the onion skins, let alone the water I needed to add.  Since I had a better idea of how long it would take to "cook" these skins, I set the timer for one minute intervals the second time.  All in all, I cooked these four minutes and had time to sweep my studio floor in between checks.

Perfect!!  Although they didn't smell as aromatic as the cinnamon had, these yellow onion skins were a much darker color.  I decided to heat a bit more water in another container, and siphon off some of this rich darkness. I don't show it, but I added vinegar to this batch before I diluted some of it.

Here are the two containers, the one on the right has the diluted onion skin bath.  You can see the mottling I'm going for.  I will check on these and hang them to dry tomorrow, after they have hopefully soaked up the rest of their dye baths.

It goes without saying, the spent cinnamon and onion skins have found a place in my compost container.  I also plan to make more of these dyed fabrics using herbs from my garden.

This is day 8 of AEDM.  Have you used kitchen products in your art lately?