Natural dyeing - Walnuts

Thanks to good friends I continued my natural dyeing experiments; with walnuts.

Brit's husband, Rick, not only collected walnuts but also took the nuts out so I just had the husks to dye with. So kind. He also discovered (accidentally) that TSP takes the black dye off your fingers.

Heather collected some whole walnuts for me, which I smashed with a hammer to expose the nut.

So I made 2 kinds of walnut "tea"; one with just the husks and one with the husks and the nuts. I covered them with water and simmered them for about an hour.

I saved some of the "walnut husk tea" in a jar (the one on the left). The jar on the right is the "onion skin tea" from my previous experiment. You can see how much darker the walnut one is. It is dark, intense and dyes the water immediately (you probably don't even have to simmer it - its pretty potent.)

I strained the mixtures through cheese clothe and then returned them to the pots and added natural wool that I had soaked for a few hours.

After about an hour of low simmer I added some white vinegar (and apple cider vinegar in one batch as I ran out of white) and simmered a little longer for the wool to take up the colour. There was still colour left in one pot (the one with the nuts) so I accordion folded a piece of natural wool and put elastic around it and heated it up. I also put a piece of wool in the pot later with no heat, for a an hour, to see what would happen.

After letting the wool cool and rinsing it, til the water ran clear, I hung it out on the line to dry. On the left is the last piece I did (no heat), next the accordion pleated one, then the yarn and wool that was treated in the husk and nut tea, then the cheesecloth, then the yarn and wool treated in the husk tea.

The most intense colour, and least mottled, was the one dyed in the tea made from the husks and the nuts. The combinations have given me a nice walnut dyed swatch.

Brit's natural dying; hibiscus flowers (yellow and orange), avocado, red onion skins, yellow onion skins and walnuts. Luscious.