We get lots of emails from customers about challenges with dyeing and needing Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori’s help. Why not share the learning so we can all benefit? From our inboxes to you, it’s simple: You Asked, Kathy Answered. Email questions@botanicalcolors.com with your plea for help!
YOU ASKED: I have tried several times to dye cotton with black walnut husks, but the color always seems to wash out. I collect husks, boil them, strain them and add fiber. Sometimes I’ve pre-treated it in alum. Other times not. The color, which in the vat is a deep brown washes out. I even dyed a vintage white cotton dress and it washed out back almost to white. I’ve left the fiber sit. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
KATHY ANSWERED: Cotton is a little tricky to dye with walnut and you will have much easier success with wool. However, if you want to try dyeing cotton with walnut, try a soak in a strong walnut bath (room temperature), then remove, immerse your goods in an alum mordant, and then put it back into the walnut bath and heat it. I think that at best you will get a light brown color. You can repeat the process to see if the color deepens with repeated immersions. You may be able to deepen the shade to a gray-brown if you use an iron post-bath.
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