Pulling cloth from a steaming pot of onion skins or madder root, never quite sure what shade you'll get, is the whole charm of this.

It's also messy, slow, and unpredictable: colors shift with your water and your mordant, and the same plant can give gold one week and beige the next.

You learn to love the muted, living tones that come out, and to let go of controlling the result.