Red Onion Recipe

Red Onion Recipe.

1. Add 2 gals of water to your dye pot, this time I added a tsp of water softener, we have hard water here in California so the water softener will result in removing some of the water impurities;
2. Add 4 cups of Red Onion Skins, minimum; the darker you want the color the more onion skins you will need; putting the skins in a nylon to prevent floating dye material in the dye bath;
3. Add 1 cup of salt, again I use plain table salt;
4. Bring the mixture to a boil for 1/2 hour;
5. Add your coil of cane;
6. Simmer for an additional 1/2 hour;
7. Remove from heat and let stand overnight.

Remember this method will work for any of the Onion Skins, Red, Yellow or Brown. The long you let it stand the darker the color will be as well. I have found the Brown Onion skins to produce the best color thus far, however, I added more than 2 cups of crushed skins.

With 2 cups of red onion skins, my cane was much too light as seen above. You might also add 1/2 or 1 cup of vinegar to your dye pot or after dyeing you would put the cane into a solution of vinegar to enhance the red color. Not sure this would work on the Brown Onions.