APRIL Plant Dye Tableau

One of my fondest memories from our in-person WAPASA puppetry conferences, held over the years, has been our group immersion into plant dye experiences... Brought together over bubbling brew pots of color, we beheld the magic of alchemy with wonder, marveling at the surprising variations of hue that rippled in the wind. In the spirit of ongoing inspiration in this area of our puppetry crafting work, I invite you to share your plant color projects that are brewing in your kitchens! This month I offer an ode to the onion... 

Praise to the onion

a powerful friend,

offering gifts beyond measure 

from beginning to end ~ 

Flavorful in cooking

over stovetop flame,

with remedies working

when earaches may maim!

 And last but not least

it's golden color glory

The sheaths of its skin

Tell a plant color story.

All year long, I save onion skins in a brown paper bag in the cabinet of the kitchens I work in - whether at home or in the Kindergarten. Here is one way I have used this storehouse.... First, with the kindergarteners we immerse the skins in a pot of water and bring it to a boil the night before our project. Then let the dye bath cool and sit overnight. Then the children bring leaves from the garden to my table and we carefully place the leaf form against raw white eggs, wrapping a small square of stocking over the leaf, pulling tight so the leaf form lies secure against the egg - tying it closed over the eggs. These are placed into the cool dye bath and brought to a boil and cooked like a normal hardboiled egg. Pure magic unfolds when the eggs are cooled and unwrapped! I then used the dyebath for the project below: Merino wool in yellow onion skin dye bath …  and Mama Hen’s chicks emerge.  

~  J. Ping - Hawthorne Valley.