When I first started experimenting with red onion skins, I made a dye, hoping for elusive green tones, but was disappointed when brown was the result.
I can't remember the inspiration to try printing with red onion skin, but have been delighted every time by the variety of colours that emerge. The image above shows paper from a book with a fern covered with red onion skins. I enjoy the aesthetic of different scripts, so collect books and newspapers from different cultures.
Recently I onion printed a lovely second hand cashmere jumper. For this I used peppercorn leaves, which don't leave any print mark, but create a lovely resist.
They were put on the jumper first, and then copious amounts of the dry onion skins that we normally just discard were laid on top.
The jumper was folded and rolled around a piece of old pipe, then wrapped in a previously used piece of wool blanket.
It was placed into a simmering pot containing rust water for an hour. With the heat turned off, I covered the pot with another old wool blanket to help retain warmth, and left it for 24 hours (or so).
The result is exactly what I hoped for. The peppercorn leaf resist worked well, and the anticipated green and orange tones have turned my jumper into another unique eco printed garment!
Often there have been accidental prints left on the wool blankets I use to protect bundles.
Too beautiful to discard, these find their way into various projects in the Studio.
I hope you will try using onion skins to create natural prints. Please let me know how you go.
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