Dyeing With Walnuts...The Results

When we last left our intrepid walnut dyers they'd were simmering a pot of wool roving. For about an hour.

Note: All the wool we dyed had been washed and, with the exception of the handful of Keebler curls, processed into roving. We couldn't tell if the anti-static spray Ohio Valley Natural Fibers uses affected the dye process any.



This was actually a later batch. That is not Keebs on the top, but I wanted to show how dark the dye water stayed the entire time even as the wool got progressively lighter and lighter as the days went on. It looks black in the pot, but when the black water drained off the wool, it was always a good deal lighter...after the first batches.



The first batch. We'd pulled the lingerie bags out of the simmering dye pot (insulated rubber gloves - worth every penny) and let most of the dye water drain back into the pot, then squeezed the bags to remove even more. We then carefully removed all the dyed wool and set it on the handy strainer thingy.

In the beginning we heated rain water to rinse, trying to match the hot temperatures so as not to felt our fiber. For later batches we just let the wool sit for a few minutes to cool off and then could use unheated water for the initial two rinses. Worked fine.



We then carried it into the wool house wash room and ran a small amount of cool water into the washing machine, soaked the already mostly rinsed wool in it for a couple minutes and spun it out.

For one more final rinse in the washing machine I added a small amount of Fibre Rinse. This worked fine for cool water, but on later batches when the water was cold, it didn't disperse as well.

Note: In several places we read that the walnut dye smelled god-awful. We actually thought it smelled pretty good - kind of citrus-y . This may be due to the fact we were using fresh, green walnuts and not black, decaying hulls.

Note: The colors darkened some as the wool dried.



As I said in the beginning, I was really only mildly interested in dyeing wool. You can see that I must have developed a little more interest ;-). By the end of three days I had dyed a little over three pounds of wool.

Part of that was because I hated the thought of wasting the dye, but also because I got curious to see how different types of fiber would react, how much you could stick in the pot, how far you could stretch the dye...

Having the hulls safely ensconced in the painter's strainer bags allowed me to re-cook them for the next two mornings. I'd simmer them for an hour or so and stick some more wool in the pot.

Note: On one batch I got to talking with a friend and accidentally let it boil. I mean rolling boil. I thought that pot was ruined, but it wasn't. It was part of the Clun Forest fleece - a medium to coarse wool.

Slow learner note: I boiled a second batch - some Cotswold. The fiber itself didn't felt, but some did felt into the mesh bag. Most was salvageable.

Possibly helpful hint: I always recommend a less than fine fleece for anyone washing a raw fleece for the first time. Apparently the same is true for dyeing. Set yourself up to succeed. Stay away from a less forgiving fine wool when you are starting out. I think the Cotswold can be a little tricky too sometimes. Those "boring" medium wools are just about fool proof.

So, how did it all turn out?



Here we have a ball of Emerin (the white part of her Jacob fleece), a small skein left from the Buddy lace sample, the Keebler curls and a sample of Keebler yarn spun from the lock. Keebs was in the first batch, the rest about mid way through.



Buddy as a redhead ;-)



Heidi's gray roving in the foreground. You can see the heathery look the gray gave us. The batt and yarn behind is from the first batch of Clun Forest. I only re-carded these two batts. Everything else was left as it came out of the pot.



A later batch of Clun Forest.



Note: we kept coming up with these dark spots and finally determined that was from the bottom bag resting right over the hot burner. We took a glass pie plate, turned it upside down in the bottom of the pot and did not have any further trouble.



I tossed wool into the pot for three days. The light brown Cotswold on the left was the last batch and where I decided to stop. I poured the dye out so I wouldn't be tempted further ;-).



I think the medium/bright red color is my favorite, but would like to try again sometime for more of the darker brown/nearly black. And maybe some more Keebler curls :-).



The driveway still has two black lines in the gravel. Even after a couple rains. Is this a limestone reaction or why is it so dark...without all the cooking?

Final notes (and I'll probably add to this as I remember things I've surely forgotten):

• We started with a bucket and a half of green walnut hulls.

• We completely covered the hulls in both buckets with rain water and I don't remember adding any other water - just strained out the hulls and used what we had.

• We started out with just 4 ounces of wool in the 4 gallon pot. I put up to 10 ounces in subsequent pots. 6-8 seemed like the best amount, especially as the dye water was used up.

• We started out with two buckets of cooking hulls. We used just the first one the first day and then I added the strained second bucket to the pot on the second day.

• Did not test a batch with wool that had been pre-soaked in hot, soapy water. Tried to do everything as "good ole fashion way" as possible (well, except for the car driving over the hulls, electric heaters, washing machine parts ;-), but did want to test that and just forgot.

• It was way more fun than I thought it would be.

• It was much easier than I thought it would be.

Hmmm - if I wasn't trying to get ready for the Fall Wool Festival, I'd probably go gather another bucket of walnuts.