The Black Walnut dyebath gave some wonderful color. The wool came out very rich; the silk is a soft tawny brown. Interesting facts re: this dye (from Michelle Wiplinger’s Natural Dye Instruction Book):
- The dye is high in tannic acid, and is a substantive dye, so it does not need a mordant. Mordants can be used as color changers.
- The rich browns develop with oxygen (indigo also required oxidation). So she recommends simmering the hulls for a couple of hours with an overnight cool-down before adding the fiber. I simmered the hulls about an hour with an overnight cool-down.
In between extracting the color and dyeing the cloth I stitched a magic feather for Jude’s inspiring Magic Feather Project. Background: a scrap of muslin – my natural pigment palette. I use scraps of muslin to offload the brush and test colors. When the scraps become lively with marks, scribbles and color I throw them in the scrap pile. I chose black and yellow for the feather because bumble bees and Goldfinches are now feeding on my fall flowers and seed heads! I also tried a kantha stitch with a rippled effect that I have often admired on the Spiritcloth blog.
silver minnow 
ha, thanks! i have been successfully dyeing with walnut with out heat. i let the whole fruits soak of about a week, added a bit of vinegar to discourage mold. then added cloth and left for a week, stirring once in a while. great results, still dyeing with the same brew, added a few new hulls i found on the side of the road…. looks like it just keeps giving color. getting darker everyday. of course the pot is outside….
sounds great! I saved my walnut brew!
love the walnut colors. And I did not know about the oxidation or that you don’t need a mordant. thank you for sharing.