Dying traditional clothing

[blackbruin]

Just wondering how you have dyed traditional fabric clothing, what you used, the technique and your results.  Thanks

[T*O*F]

Suggest you buy a copy of "Early American Weaving and Dyeing" by Bronson.
It will give you more than you ever wanted to know about traditional dyes.
It's available from Dover books online.

[Martyman]

I have used walnut dye for a medium brown with pretty good success. just remember to use rain water and not tap water. tap water has chlorine in it.

[g rummell]

I have used walnut dye for a medium brown with pretty good success. just remember to use rain water and not tap water. tap water has chlorine in it.

And rubber gloves. This stuff has a tendency to turn your hands green up to your elbows. Don't ask me how I know. 

[Hungry Horse]

 I would suspect that the drum beaters for walnut hull based dyes, are giving the material more attention than it deserves. With all the  natural dye stuffs that were available that produce good strong colors, without all the problems walnut hulls possess, why would you put yourself through that, if you didn't have to. Most folks on the frontier had a tanning vat somewhere beyond the range of your nose, that could produce a similar color by just stirring the material into the working tan bark solution and giving a day or two.

                   Hungry Horse

[rich pierce]

Boiled Osage orange wood shavings give a nice yellow color.  It is colorfast on wool but needs a mordant on linen.  Walnut hulls are over used and the result looks muddy or dirty to me.

[Martyman]

I do also know that the pecan hulls off my trees turn my driveway a nice brown color. 

[Dan Herda]

Rich, do you know if the Osage shavings would dye horn?

[Dogshirt]

Oregon Grape root gives a nice yellow.

[rich pierce]

Rich, do you know if the Osage shavings would dye horn?

Yes it will.  I often used to use onion skins on horn which gave a good color.  Not overly yellow or orangish.

[Hungry Horse]

 Rich;

  I used yellow onion skins, and simmered the horn, and  onion skins, in cider vinegar. the horn came out with a lot of yellow, and some orange around the plug end. You can get some other nice color variations, by "CAREFULLY" adding red onion skins to the brew. It can make the horns brittle if you leave them in too long.

                    Hungry Horse

[Dan Herda]

Thank you Rich,are those pix revealing the Osage wood stain or onion?
This is my result with onion dye, skins in a chilli pot brought to a boil,heat shut off and horn submerged for 40 minutes.




I am looking for a darker shade.

[Hungry Horse]

ridjrunr;

  Use vinegar instead of water, next time, and don't bring it to a boil. You should be able to put your finger in the pot for a short time, without getting scalded. More time, lower heat, and vinegar are the trick.

                     Hungry Horse

[rich pierce]

The horn I posted was stained just with onion skins.