Natural dyes for hose?

[davedove]

Got any black walnut or butternut trees in your area? The nut hulls from either will yield nice shades of brown. No mordant needed....

I thought I remembered that about nut hulls, especially the walnut.

I may be completely off base, but wasn't urine involved in some dying processes?

[cacunn]

but wasn't urine involved in some dying processes?

I vaguely remember that urine was used for its acid content. I would use vinegar instead.

I wonder if you would get a darker color if you have been taking vitamin "G" (GUINNESS) the night before as compared to vitamin "S" (Single Malt)?

[James MacMillan]

By the way, even though Ritt was messy, did you like the result? A friend suggested that we should dye our stark white piper's hose to go with our new band clothes. Even though I loathe white hose, I've been a bit hesitant to take her up on the suggestion. I've just imagined hideous results and don't want to ruin some perfectly good (but bright white) hose.

Ritt works - and I would suggest doing all the band's hose at the same time. I have one pair that turned out really close to lovat blue with ritt.

Follow directions and just s s s l l l l o o o o w w w down the heating and cooling process if doing wool. Gentle heating and cooling doesn't seem to shrink the wool.... of course cotton is almost shrink proof.

I only ruined one pair, before I slowed down the heat and cool. Since then no problems.

[James MacMillan]

I vaguely remember that urine was used for its acid content. I would use vinegar instead.

I wonder if you would get a darker color if you have been taking vitamin "G" (GUINNESS) the night before as compared to vitamin "S" (Single Malt)?

I'm not sure I would want to wear really pissy colours????

[cacunn]

This sites seems to have a list of suppliers for natural dyes:

http://www.naturaldyes.org/sources.htm

[McFarkus]

it's been a while since I did any natural dying, but by usin different mordants you can achieve different colours form the same initial dye.
Onion skins work well, roots of various plants, eg. Alkanet.Acorns work well for grey or black but you need a little ferrous sulphate to help.
it's work playing, sadly not all the colours with be completely light fast, but it's fun to try.
the downside can be that the dyestuffs can help to shorten the life of the substrate.

If I recall correctly onion skins produce a red dye (they are used for red Easter eggs)

[TheKiltedWonder]

I brought out a book I have on self-sufficiency, and I'm looking at the dye page right now. Apparently Onion skins w/ alum as a mordant produce a dull yellow, while coreopsis and alum would give you a much brighter yellow. Lily of the valley and Queen Anne's Lace can both produce a color near lovat green with alum as a mordant. Acorns can produce browns and might be easier to find than walnuts or butternuts. And Pokeberry's produce a liht brown with alum, but apparently might be able to produce a red??

[McFarkus]

Got any black walnut or butternut trees in your area? The nut hulls from either will yield nice shades of brown. No mordant needed....

We have tons of black walnuts, and it can take several days to get the color from the hulls off my hands.

[Moosedog]

Yeh, walnut dye is tough stuff!

Results may also vary due to different fabric content--synthetics usually don't accept dye like natural fibers. Cotton soaks it up, while wool's lanolin resisits it a bit and needs some coddling to get it right, as James has described.

Moosedog

[Abax]

Has anybody experimented with and other natural dyes?

I've used Dharma Trading Co. Procion fiber reactive dyes and received good service from them. They also sell natural dyes. They also sell a soap designed to strip any oils from fabric and prepare it for dyeing.

Abax