Black Walnut Husk Dye

Boy, oh boy, did I get the rich brown I was hoping for! To be honest, this picture looks just a little pumped up on my screen but not by much on the brown. The orange yarn was dyed with pokeberries. I wasn't as attentive as I should have been with the pokeberries and the dye got too hot, bringing out the tanins, so no pink. I like it anyway. The walnut brown could have done with more stirring for an even color. Parts of the skein sat in the concentrated sludge at the bottom of the pot and became very dark. I'm just going to claim that I meant to do that to add more interest. This morning I made a paste out of some more walnut hulls (minus the skins) by mashing and cooking them with salt. The plan is to paint or print on fabric with it. If you are new to black walnut dye, please heed all the warnings about how deeply it will stain just about anything. My rubber glove had a hole in one finger and even though I was careful, I have a "suntanned" fingertip now.

Autumn Means It's Time For Plant Dyes

Fall weather is finally here and that means it's time pull out the dye pots and go foraging for dye plants. This just makes me so happy! It's something I wanted to do when I was a kid but I never pulled it together. The only yarn I knew about came from Bradlees and was acrylic so it wouldn't work. Maybe that's why I get so much satisfaction from plant dyeing now, it's an old desire fulfilled. This batch of dyes was my best yet and I think that some of the credit goes to the wonderful yarn I got from Potluck Yarn during their Labor Day sale. I got a ten pack of the super sock dk and I love it. All the skeins were premordanted with alum and cream of tartar. I watched the heat carefully and simmered the dye, never boiling it and left the skeins to cool in the pot overnight. Left to right they are: goldenrod blossoms, goldenrod and bedstraw exhaust baths mixed, autumn olive leaves, polypore mushroom off an oak tree, sumac berries, bedstraw root 1st, 3rd and 2nd bath, and maple leaf viburnum berries. I had come across a mention online that the autumn olive, which is an invasive species, was brought here as a dye source and that it would produce an olive green dye. I got a very nice rich gold but adding copper or iron might turn it olive. I'm not sold on the idea that it was imported for dye purposes. I believe it was for erosion control and ornamental value. In any event, it's made itself at home and we'll never see the end of it. I like the idea of finding uses for invasive plants. The berries also make an excellent jam. If you like strawberry rhubarb pie, you'll like autumn olive jam. The navy blue skein was dyed with maple leafed viburnum berries. I checked online but found nothing about using them for dyes but I can't imagine I'm the first person to try it. I need to get back out and pick some more!