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Post by brokennock on May 26, 2022 1:57:16 GMT -7
I personally like walnut myself. It's just so stinking easy to use plus I like the smell of hauled walnuts... However there are a multitude of natural dyes available. We should have topic pertaining to that somewhere if my memory serves me right. I had a good time today with walnut. I’m trying to get a shift to the grey hues with iron mordant (Ferrous Sulphate… I have low iron…) but unsuccessful as of this evening. I can see this being a really enjoyable part of the hobby for me. You should see what I’ve done to match the cane and varnish and silk thread colors on a 90yo bamboo fly rod! Talk about alchemy! I could be wrong, but I think to get what you wanted you had to put the material in a mordant bath before the dye bath.
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Post by Black Hand on May 26, 2022 4:07:05 GMT -7
With walnut, if you soak in an iron pot, the mordant is built it. Try rusty nails/iron in the pot with the hulls when making the dye bath.
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Post by hawkeyes on May 26, 2022 11:25:12 GMT -7
With walnut, if you soak in an iron pot, the mordant is built it. Try rusty nails/iron in the pot with the hulls when making the dye bath. Excellent info, I dye my walnut textiles in an old cast iron pot. Worth noting after the dye bath I rinse in cold water and hand wash, then hang dry. I've never had an issue with my garments holding color or fading. I know some have issues with their dye holding. I also make my dye bath extremely strong which may impact success in some way.
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on May 26, 2022 14:03:32 GMT -7
These natural dyes are fascinating. Truly. The chemistry is super interesting too. I had some wonderful foolin’ around time in my kitchen today. So… Walnut… easy as pie. I have ‘walnut mordant’ crystals, which one just dissolves in warm water. Change concentration for strength of brown on the linen. Very straight forward. But I wanted to see if I could get a gray cast to the dye process. Knowing that vinagaroon works by a chemical reaction between iron and the tannins in leather, I got to thinking. I’ve read that woodworkers would do a pre-treat on woods low in tannin with a strong tea. I’ve also experimented on bamboo with tea to achieve certain tones with differing finishing processes. Tannins… hmmm… BTW… if you can’t get black on leather with ‘roon, try a tea soak first to add tannins back into Tandy veg tan. I plan to try that soon. Anyway… My first attempt at a ‘mushroom brown/gray’ was walnut dye bath followed by a soak in a ferrous sulphate (iron) mordant. This is just one of my iron supplements dissolved in a jar of hot water. No gray, but it made a very strong and ‘hardy’ brown. Interesting. So then… I thought I’d try a tea dye on linen. My guess is that this walnut crystal stuff is mostly concentrated color and low in tannins. I brewed a very strong cup of some random Bigelow black tea and gave a good soak. Almost zero color change in the linen. Actually… exactly zero color change. But there was still a jar of my remaining iron solution sitting on the stove. Ah… what the hell. Dunked my tea’d linen in that and holy freaking wow!! Steel Gray! Almost an instant change. Well now! Get a few more swatches cut… dumped the iron solution into the tea. Tried walnut dye then tea-iron and tea-iron then walnut. That’s a Bingo! How many shades a hues of ‘drab’ do ya want? Because I think you can get all of them with walnut, tea and iron. How… colonial. 🤓 Now… can it be repeated and scaled? I think so.
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on May 26, 2022 14:07:23 GMT -7
So then… how does one go about dying 3yds of heavy (7oz) linen? I have an ancient copper boiler next to my wood stove that may or may not hold water and will likely sit on my ancient gas range… but failing this, how do you guys set up a dye pot?
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on May 26, 2022 14:14:29 GMT -7
I’m laying out my cuts for this smock. I had the ever fetching Mrs. RyanAK help with measurements. I’m 5’10 220lbs. Over my Filson Mackinaw Cruiser I get:
30” across with a 3” drop off the shoulder line.
41” from center of shoulder to center of kneecap.
Measurements taken with a cloth measuring tape. Do these seem in the realm of correct? I’ll add 3” to the width and 2” to the length for seams and hems. I plan the body in a single piece (front and back as one) if layout allows.
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Post by paranger on May 26, 2022 14:56:31 GMT -7
These natural dyes are fascinating. Truly. The chemistry is super interesting too. I had some wonderful foolin’ around time in my kitchen today. So… Walnut… easy as pie. I have ‘walnut mordant’ crystals, which one just dissolves in warm water. Change concentration for strength of brown on the linen. Very straight forward. But I wanted to see if I could get a gray cast to the dye process. Knowing that vinagaroon works by a chemical reaction between iron and the tannins in leather, I got to thinking. I’ve read that woodworkers would do a pre-treat on woods low in tannin with a strong tea. I’ve also experimented on bamboo with tea to achieve certain tones with differing finishing processes. Tannins… hmmm… BTW… if you can’t get black on leather with ‘roon, try a tea soak first to add tannins back into Tandy veg tan. I plan to try that soon. Anyway… My first attempt at a ‘mushroom brown/gray’ was walnut dye bath followed by a soak in a ferrous sulphate (iron) mordant. This is just one of my iron supplements dissolved in a jar of hot water. No gray, but it made a very strong and ‘hardy’ brown. Interesting. So then… I thought I’d try a tea dye on linen. My guess is that this walnut crystal stuff is mostly concentrated color and low in tannins. I brewed a very strong cup of some random Bigelow black tea and gave a good soak. Almost zero color change in the linen. Actually… exactly zero color change. But there was still a jar of my remaining iron solution sitting on the stove. Ah… what the hell. Dunked my tea’d linen in that and holy freaking wow!! Steel Gray! Almost an instant change. Well now! Get a few more swatches cut… dumped the iron solution into the tea. Tried walnut dye then tea-iron and tea-iron then walnut. That’s a Bingo! How many shades a hues of ‘drab’ do ya want? Because I think you can get all of them with walnut, tea and iron. How… colonial. 🤓 View AttachmentNow… can it be repeated and scaled? I think so. Awesome stuff, Ryan. I love the gray!
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on May 26, 2022 15:03:48 GMT -7
Thanks, friend! Grab some veg tan, brew a cup of strong tea, soak, hit with ‘roon. I bet it will work. I cannot believe how instant that gray appeared!
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Keith
City-dweller
Bushfire close but safe now. Getting some good rain.
Posts: 990
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Post by Keith on May 26, 2022 22:39:47 GMT -7
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on May 27, 2022 6:30:37 GMT -7
Thanks, Kieth! I’ve been to your wonderful blog numerous times, but a few of those pages were new to me. I really appreciate the effort you put into gathering and sharing your research.
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Post by brokennock on May 27, 2022 6:48:34 GMT -7
WARNING! Copper is a reactive metal. You may get color changes due to the copper pot if you try it.
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Post by brokennock on May 27, 2022 6:55:52 GMT -7
I found an old plastic tub for bathing babies in. I used that for my shirt dying experiment. Also make sure everything is as clean as you can. I have had mold develope when trying to tea stain leather. For small pieces like leather projects and cravats, I use distilled water to make the tea. I make it in an old steel pot using what would probably be 2 or 3 tea-bags per cup if I were brewing by the cup. I simmer it on the stove with the bags in it for quite a while (never timed it). I add a few ounces of high percent isopropyl alcohol after it has cooled off. If heat isn't a problem for the object to be dyed, the dye being hot seems to help.
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Post by spence on May 27, 2022 7:04:24 GMT -7
I really appreciate the effort you put into gathering and sharing your research. Keith, I could not agree more. You are the best, and we all owe you a vote of thanks for all the work you have done for the hobby over the years. Spence
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Post by Black Hand on May 27, 2022 7:49:34 GMT -7
I found an old plastic tub for bathing babies in. I used that for my shirt dying experiment. Also make sure everything is as clean as you can. I have had mold develope when trying to tea stain leather. For small pieces like leather projects and cravats, I use distilled water to make the tea. I make it in an old steel pot using what would probably be 2 or 3 tea-bags per cup if I were brewing by the cup. I simmer it on the stove with the bags in it for quite a while (never timed it). I add a few ounces of high percent isopropyl alcohol after it has cooled off. If heat isn't a problem for the object to be dyed, the dye being hot seems to help. It is also helpful to pre-wet the fabric before dyeing. I use a large inexpensive enameled "canning" pot on a hot plate when dyeing (or boiling a deer head).
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Post by Black Hand on May 27, 2022 7:51:19 GMT -7
I really appreciate the effort you put into gathering and sharing your research. Keith, I could not agree more. You are the best, and we all owe you a vote of thanks for all the work you have done for the hobby over the years. Spence Don't sell yourself short Spence - you are quite a resource too!
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