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Black Walnut Hulls, Crushed
$5.56 – $22.75
Coarsely ground dried hulls of Juglans nigra.
Use on protein or cellulose fibres. Yields rich browns and tans. A substantive dye but pre-mordanting recommended for improved lightfast and colourfast qualities. Use at 25-50% WOF for medium shades.
TO USE: soak 24 hours or longer to rehydrate. Simmer at 185-200°F for 1.5 hrs. Cool and strain. Enter fibre and simmer and simmer at 185-200°F for 1 to 1.5 hrs.
Light and washfastness: good to excellent.
NOTE: WEAR GLOVES!! Clean pots and utensils well, this dye tends to stain everything it touches.
Related products
Osage Orange, Shavings
Dried shavings from Maclura pomifera, a tree once widely planted in the US and eastern Canada for shetlerbelts. The wood is still used to make archery bows.
Use on protein or cellulose fibres. Pre-mordanting recommended. Strong and fast golden to lemon yellows are produced. Use at 20-50% WOF for medium shades.
TO USE: place shavings in a stocking and soak overnight (or longer) in cold water. Bring to a simmer for 1 hour, cool and remove stocking. Enter premordanted fibre and simmer for 1 hour. Combines well with other dyes such as Logwood. Shavings can be dried and reused.
Light and washfastness: excellent.
Logwood, Extract
Dried and cured chips from a tropical tree, Haematoxylum campechianum.
Use on protein or cellulose fibres. Pre-mordanting essential. Produces dramatic pink, blue, maroon and purple to black shades. Use at 20-50% WOF for medium shades.
TO USE: place chips in a stocking and soak overnight in cold water. Bring to a simmer for 1 hour, cool and remove stocking. Enter premordanted fibre and simmer for 1 hour. Bath may be used for successive dips, and by the 3rd or 4th dip the colours being yielded change to golds, greens or browns.
Light and washfastness: average. Keep dyed fibres away from bright light.
NEW: Logwood Extract: this has already been soaked out then reduced down to a powder. It's expensive but very strong and super convenient. Simply weigh out the extract at around 10% weight of fibre for medium shades, or adjust for darker or lighter. Dissolve in a measuring cup with hot (but not boiling) water, add to your dyepot with water, mix well, add your fibre and simmer for an hour.
Indigo, Natural Ground
PLEASE NOTE: Indigo dyeing is an art and science that you need to research ahead of time. It is NOT handled like any of the other natural dyes, by simmering on the stove!!
Finely ground powder from Indigofera tinctoria.
Use on protein or cellulose fibres. A vat dye, Indigo must be handled in a special way in order for the complex chemical process to occur. It produces a gorgeous range of true blue shades, depending on how many dips are done and how much indigo is used in the vat. The indigo magic will not work with the standard methods used for other natural dyes.
TO USE: follow one of the many recipes for setting up an Indigo vat. The internet is a good search source. We stock some of the supplies needed, depending on the method. Thiourea dioxide and Soda Ash are the two most commonly used ingredients, which we stock. Lye is also used sometimes, and due to its caustic nature we will not stock it: any good hardware store sells lye in with the cleaning products. We highly recommend looking at the pdf tutorials on Indigo at www.maiwa.com
Light and washfastness: excellent.
Dyer’s Chamomile
Dried flower heads of Anthemis tinctoria, a perennial garden flower often called Golden Marquerite. This plant is NOT the same as the Chamomile used for tea.
Use on protein fibres. With an Alum/c.o.t. mordant this gives a strong yellow. Use at 50-100% WOF for medium to strong shades. Mixed with or dyed under/over Madder this will produce tangerine shades. A traditional dyeplant widely used in Turkish carpets. If you happen to grow the plant simply pick the flowerheads and use fresh, no need to dry them.
TO USE: soak in hot water overnight. Simmer 30-60 minutes in soaking liquid. Cool, strain then simmer premordanted fibre for 30-60 minutes.
Light and washfastness: good to excellent with a mordant.