NATURAL DYEING WITH BLACK WALNUTS

December 02, 2024 • Claudia Gosse • Natural Dyeing • Sustainable Textiles

NATURAL DYEING WITH BLACK WALNUTS (Juglans nigra)

The Black Walnut tree (Juglans nigra) is a large, broadleaf tree that can grow to 30 or 40 metres in height. A native of North America it was introduced to Europe in the 16^th century, and in Britain is most likely to be found in the warmer conditions of the south. Its name refers to the dark outer bark and the Black Walnut tree is a valuable source of hardwood for furniture and flooring.

I came across this very beautiful Black Walnut tree in a vicarage garden not far from my home and am told that it is well over a hundred years old.

The flowers that appear in May and June presage the hard, round, green fruits that appear in the autumn. About the size of a golf ball they fall to the ground in large numbers, and those that the squirrels don’t harvest can be easily gathered up.

Walnut cut open to reveal fibrous inner lining

The fruits are best used fresh for natural dyeing, though they can be successfully frozen for later use. They can also be dried out for storage but the colour deteriorates as the fruits darken, so more would be needed to achieve the same intensity of colour. The colour comes from the fibrous inner lining of the green hull, not the walnut itself.

wool, linen, banana and cotton fibres before dyeing

For this project I’m using a small skein of wool, which is an animal (protein) fibre, and four plant (cellulose) fibres: bleached linen, natural linen, banana and cotton.

Walnut is considered to be a substantive dye for protein fibres, meaning that mordanting prior to dyeing isn’t necessary. Cellulose fibres do need to be mordanted and in fact I mordanted all the fibres for this dye bath.

(see blog: Preparing Natural Fibres for Natural Dyeing)

NB: You can only dye 100% natural fibres with natural dyes.

You only need about five walnuts to dye 100g of fibre to a rich nutty brown. The dry weight of the fibres I’m dyeing is about 80g, so I’m using just four of these foraged walnuts and will store the rest.

The first thing to do is to break open the outer hull.

wallnuts in a dye pot with hot water pouring over them

Put the nuts into a dye pot and pour in enough kettle-hot water to soften the fruits and to kick start the release of dye. Use enough water that will cover the nuts and accommodate the fibres when the dye bath is ready.

I left the nuts to steep for a couple of days, by which time the water was a good dark brown. They could be left to steep for longer for a deeper colour.

‘The longer the stronger’ is a useful adage for natural dyeing.

walnuts in dye pot after heating to extract the colour

The nuts were then heated to a gentle simmer (80C – 90C) and held at this heat for a couple of hours. They were then left to cool, and I left them steeping for another couple of days.

walnuts being strained out of the dye water

A fine muslin cloth in a sieve is needed to remove the walnuts and debris from the water so you have a nice clean dye bath. Be sure to rinse the dye pot well before returning the strained dye water.

raw fibres soaking (wetting out) before dyeing

It’s important to soak fibres well before entering them into a dye bath. This step is called ‘wetting out’ and I always leave fibres soaking for at least 24 hours. Wool is highly resistant to moisture and will still be bobbing around quite dry on the surface of the water after a couple of days if it isn’t weighed down.

When entering fibres into a dye bath move then around carefully to ensure all surfaces are exposed to the dye and make sure that fabrics are free of folds that will dye unevenly. Larger pieces of fabric will need to be repeatedly lifted in and out of the dye bath to ensure an even result.

If the fibres are not able to move freely in the dye bath add more water. This will not dilute the colour as the strength of a dye bath is down to the amount of dye present, not the amount of water added.

The dye bath and fibres were heated to a gentle simmer (80C – 90C) and held at this temperature for about an hour before being left to cool and to steep for a couple of days.

Once the fibres have been removed form the dye bath, give them a quick ‘dunk’ in cold water to remove any unwanted bits and then hang them to dry. I always leave dyes fibres to dry for 24 hours before washing them. If washed straight away there is a risk of losing too much colour.

Wash the fibres in warm soapy water ......

dyed fibres being rinsed until water runs clear

...... and rinse them thoroughly until the water runs clear - or almost.

Once dried the fibres are several shades lighter and as usual, the different fibres have dyed to very different colours. There is almost no difference between the natural and the bleached linen, and the variation in the banana yarn suggests that other fibres got involved at the spinning stage.

The darker, richer shades below were achieved by modifying with a little iron.

(for instructions see blog: Natural Dyeing with Acorns)

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