walnut dye

[wattlebuster]

Ok guys I've got me up a hunting shirt and frock and Im wanting to make some black walnut dye for the clothes. I've got plenty of walnuts so If ya don't mind telling me in simple redneck terms? how and what do I do.  Thanks in advance

[ridjrunr]

good question, but I have only heard of the processed /powder and ground hulls being used.
But, I am curious to hear others on this. I am planning on leaving mine nat. color or the color I buy , medium tan.

[Riley/MN]

I think you can throw the whole nut in water to make a dye bath. Just wait 'til the hulls get brown & mushy....

[greyhunter]

Important safety tip, DO NOT dye yer duds in yer wifes' washer  machine. I have paid the price for this bit of folly!   A clean 5 gallon pail will work and wear latex gloves. I've heerd sumthin about setting the color with an agent of some type but can't remember wut. Good luck pardner, an watch yer top knot!

[Uncle Russ]

There's some past threads on this very subject that I thought were very good, however I haven't been able to find them.
[size=72](Perhaps someone with more or better search abilities than myself can find them.)[/size]

Anyway, this was, at one time, a very "hot" subject and it appears it can be done with great success.
As GH mentioned, that "agent" to set the color seemed important at the time, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

The little bit of dying I have done I used plain old Rit Dye, or is it Ritz dye?
I choose the Cocoa Brown color and it turned out real good.

Still yet, I have always wanted to use a real, honest to goodness, Walnut hull dye....I just haven't got myself one of those little "round-to-its" yet....some folks seem to always have a pocket full of these things, but at my age they seem hard to find.

Hope some of the more knowledgeable will chime in here, and since I have a source for walnuts this just may be time we both get to try our hand at this.

Uncle Russ...

[gunmaker]

SALT

[Woodrock]

For each gallon of dye required, you need 10 to 15 husks...green is better to work with. You can use other nut husks like Pecan, Butternut, or Hickory as well for different colours. Pre wash your cloth either in a washing soda/detergent, or 4 parts water/1 part vinegar bath.  For the dye, bring 1 gallon of water to boil, add husks, and simmer one hour. Add rinsed fabric, and simmer until a wee bit darker than colour desired.. Rinse until water runs clear.  If you do not, you will dye yourself...lasts for weeks it does.  Wear gloves from start to finish including harvesting the nuts. You can dry the husks for use later, but if not dried, they will rot. You can also keep the dye solution used, by adding a wee bit of vinegar to it. Oh, did I mention wear gloves? A mordant to fix the dye is not needed.  One last thing, do NOT do any of this in the wife's washing machine, use an old bucket.
Woody

[Riley/MN]

I found an old corn husker worked well to husk the walnuts. I gave a whole barrel of 'em away a couple years ago - haven't messed with 'em since....

[Woodrock]

Just for some laughs, and giggles, back in the 80's a client came into the shop, and told me he had several thousand feet of Black Walnut sawn 4/4, and 8/4 and would like a ten foot diameter hot tub built for his rec room, and would pay in Black Walnut. I thought that was a good deal so took the job on. The day I assembled the tub in his rec room, filled it up, and watched for leaks, as it heated he informed me there would be a party that night. He, by the way was famous for his parties.  I was not able to make the party. Next day, some of the girls that had hot tubbed were very much less than happy with me............they all had 'tans' up to their necks. The Walnut tans lasted for months. I did know about using Walnut husks for dye, but had no idea the wood produced enough dye to tan people. This many years later, the guys are still laughing about this, but none of the girls are.
Woody

[gunmaker]

The wood dust from walnut works very well as a dye.  I noticed years ago that in the summer I wore sandals in the shop sometimes and the walnut sawdust stained the bottoms of my feet a nice dark brown--very durable to I mite ad.....Tom

[2 Locks]

I walnut dyed a Capote once using the boiling method - turned a men's large into a women's medium.  

Tried other items after the dye cooled & let them soak a couple of days.  Seemed to turn out just fine.

I've never been able to rinse until the dye stops coming out - there always seems to more, but after a few rinses it seems OK - at least I've never had my clothes dye me.  So I'm interested in how you might set the dye with Salt.  Mixed in the original dye solution? in the first rinse? in the last? how much? what temp? what's the price of tea in in China?  All the details please, Gunmaker.

[gunmaker]

We have added it to the dye mix and use hot not boiling water.  On the other hand have dyed without the salt & can't say noticed any difference...Tom

[Uncle Russ]

Since this post started I have tried my darndest to remember what was used to "set" the dye.

Sooo, I asked the woman who knows everything about everything worth knowing anything about.....my wife.
My child bride gave me that know-it-all look and said, "vinegar and salt, stupid!"

-1 cup of white vinegar...she said it had to be white vinegar, none of this cider stuff.
-1/2 cup of salt....I asked her if that had to be white also and she gave me that look again, so I suspect it should be white salt too, but that's an assumption on my part because I don't know of any other color, and at this point I aint going to ask.
-Color safe detergent...I did not have the nerve to ask why in the world you would use detergent to get a color to stay or "set" in a garment. Seems to me that would just wash it out.  

But, this wise old woman who knows everything seemed to have sense my bewilderment and offered this;
"Color safe detergent already has a "set" or "fast" in it when you buy it".

So there you have it!

Straight from the horses mouth....no. no, not like that, what I mean to say was straight from someone who has done this many times and knows something about it.

Uncle Russ...

[wattlebuster]

Thanks guys for the much needed advise. Gathered up a bunch of walnuts yesterday and shortly will give this a go. Got a shirt and a flock just waiting for a bath so when I get er done I will take a few pics and post the results good or bad.

[cb]

With walnut dye you do not actually need a mordant to set the dye since it is high in tannic acid which acts as a mordant. Mordants such as salt, vinegar, alum, etc.  will also vary depending on the material used: wool will generally take a different mordant than linen for instance.
Iron is often used as a mordant by some folks with walnut dye which saddens the color to a more gray/brown.
One thing when dying cloth be sure it has any sizing removed and put it in the bath wet but wrung out....