Making Black Walnut Dye for Yarn and Fabric (update)

Learn how easy it is to make an all natural brown or black dye for yarn and fabric with black walnuts

A few years ago, I shared with you my tutorial on how to dye yarn with black walnuts. Well, it is that time of year again, the black walnuts are dropping, so I thought I would give you an update on that original post.

I have learned a few more things about natural dyeing since then and wanted to pass that information on to you. Note, my updates will be shown printed in RED

Years ago, we had a small herd of alpacas and every time the black walnuts started dropping, we would have to move them to a different field. (Either that or put the helmets on the alpacas!) Those black walnuts crash down like little bombs.

This year, the began dropping much earlier than normal. The drought, perhaps? Anyway, it reminded me of my natural dyeing experiment last fall.

Since a billion black walnuts came crashing down this year I thought, maybe it is a good time to try dyeing yarn with them. Walnuts are super easy to dye with because they contain tannins.

They literally will stain everything (EVERYTHING)! And because they have tannins, you don’t need to use a mordant to set the dye on your yarn or fabric.

Note: In this experiment, I only dyed yarn. You can certainly use the same technique to dye fabric with a black walnut dye.

It would be best, though, that you use a natural fiber fabric versus a synthetic like polyester or nylon. Honestly, I have not tried to dye synthetics with walnuts so I don’t know if it is possible.

How to make a dye

Before you begin to work with the walnuts, put on old clothes and the rubber gloves. I was not kidding when I said they stain everything!

Next, you need to smash the hulls just to open them. Note, you can make a dye with the entire walnut and hull, with just the hull and also with only the walnut itself.

So, using the hammer, carefully smash the hulls open. It is not necessary to crack the actual walnuts themselves, although it doesn’t hurt anything if you do.

Now, pick up all of the nuts and hulls and place them in your mesh bag. Put this it your old cook pot and cover everything with water.

Set the pot on the hot plate and bring everything to a light boil. Lower the heat and simmer the walnut dye for about an hour. Finally, remove the mesh bag and let the dye stock cool completely.

When I did this experiment the first time, I used about 20 black walnuts and dyed 6 skeins of yarn. That was WAY more dye than I needed! 6-8 walnuts should be plenty for a small batch of yarn.

Once the dye has cooled, you will want to strain it with the muslin or to remove as much of the leftover debris as possible. This will make your yarn much easier to rinse.

Return the dye to the cook pot.

How to Dye the Yarn

Start the dye process by soaking your yarn in hot water. Carefully, push it down into the water and then leave it for about an hour.

Note: If you are using a protein yarn such as wool or alpaca, be careful not to move it around very much either in the soaking water or the dye pot. This can cause your yarn to felt, which you do not want.

Also, make sure that the temperature of yarn and dye bath are approximately the same. Big fluctuations in temperature can also felt the yarn.

Once the dyebath and the yarn water have cooled, you will carefully place the yarn in the dye. Again, heat the pot to a light boil and then simmer gently for 30 minutes up to an hour. Let cool completely.

Vinegar is not needed as a mordant. Black Walnut dye contains a lot of tannic acid which makes it colorfast on its own.

Finishing the Yarn

Once the yarn has cooled, carefully remove it from the dye and rinse it in room temperature water. Again, only handle it as much as necessary and don’t change the temperature of the water.

Now, rinse rinse rinse and rinse some more! You will not believe the amount of dye left in the wool.

Black Walnut dye makes a beautiful, warm, deep brown. Note: I have read that the color will be much darker and deeper if you use the Black Walnuts without the hulls but I have not tried that myself.

Once the yarn is completely rinsed, simply hang it up to dry. The leftover dyebath can be reused again and again, as long as there is still color in the liquid.

The subsequent dyes will be lighter in color but should produce a lovely, soft and warm brown just the same.

Have fun experimenting with dyeing your yarn! If anything is unclear or you need more information, please feel free to ask in the comments below. Oh and make sure and check out How to Dye with Acorns.
Enjoy!
Annette

Making Black Walnut Dye for Yarn and Fabric (update)