Onion Skin Dyeing

Yesterday, in addition to laundry and cutting grass I did some onion skin dying for a vintage rug I'm working on.  The auction house named it Glazer Antique Hearts, thus the name I've given it.

I've already hooked the top two hearts and used what I had but the colors just aren't the same.  I'll use the newly dyed wool to hook the heart on bottom right first and probably replace some wool on the ones already hooked...will see.

Anyway, I used about 3 cups of both yellow and red squished skins then placed them in a mesh bag.  Three mesh bags for $1 at the Dollar store.

Last onion skin dying was unimpressive as I used 2 cups skins with 1 yard total of fabric.  This time there were 3 cups onion skins with a tad over half yard of varying shades of white... can ya say '50 shades of white'?  Uh, a play on the book and movie "50 Shades of Grey". 

Dear friend Lauren (Rugs and Pugs) always keeps me in check.  Today she asked me how long I simmered the onions and if I kept the bag 
in the pot of wool when doing so.  This was my reply.....

"I simmered about half an hour or so and with 2 cups of onion skins.  When the color was absorbed didn’t think it was dark enough so turned off the stove, removed the wool and went to the grocery store.  Noticed some of the color was concentrated where the bag of onion skins sat.

When I came back I added the 3^rd cup of onions to the bag and turned on the water without wool but with the onion skins to leech out more color.  When the color darkened to  my satisfaction removed the bag of onion skins and put the wool back in the pot to absorb more color.  Not sure how long it simmered by then but was happy with the color and color almost gone so glugged with white vinegar."

This rug won't be done in time for Cape May, which is fine with me as it  gives me something to work on until Kris gets to me with my class project.  Two weeks from today I'll be scurrying around anxious to drive to the Cape May Lewes Ferry toward New Jersey shore.

Saundra