Madder Dye Cut or ground ~ Dye Colour a variety of reds including orange, browns, reds, brick red, blood red and fiery reds.

*Collected in the Wild of Iran

The colour depends on a variety of conditions, like the soil the roots where grown, their age, the mineral content of the water used for dyeing, the temperature of the dye pot, and how much madder you use in relation to fiber. Many dyers suggest mordanting the wool just with alum and not to use cream of tartar as well, but that is your own choice and why not try to experiment a bit? Like with any dyeing, you will need to soak the fiber overnight or for a few hours before adding them to the dye pot for both hot and cold dyeing. You can dye with madder either cold or with heat; some dyers use chalk or cream of tartar to get better reds.

Colourfastness: Excellent

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Recipe for Wool: Downloadable PDF 

Recipe for Plant fibres: Downloadable PDF

Also available as dye kit!

Basic recipe:

(You can adjust the amounts as needed)

100 grams dried madder roots (soaked overnight and blended if possible or use ground)
100 grams mordanted (Alum) fiber (50 grams for darker reds or 300 grams for lighter colors)
7 to 10 liters of water
6 grams calcium carbonate (chalk) or cream of tartar, if using

Soak the roots in the dye pot over night
Bring o 65 degrees Celsius for one hour for reds, higher temp. will go more brown
Strain through cloth
Add yarn and dye bag to dye pot
Keep on 65 - 95 degrees Celsius for one hour

**IMPORTANT: The higher the temperature the darker the colour.

Reseda or Dyer's Weld is a Mediterranean herb and the oldest yellow dye plant in the world. Reseda alongside Madder, Woad and Chamomile produce the very best natural dyes for temperate areas.The famous medieval colours, Saxon green and Lincoln green, were produced by over-dyeing Reseda yellow with Woad blue. Lincoln green was apparently the colour of the clothing of Robin Hood's men.

Reseda is the base of many of our green yarns.

Colourfastness: excellent

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Recipe Downloadable PDF ~ Reseda

Basic Recipe:

100% Reseda

7% Soda Ash

Wool (mordanted with Alum)

Soak Reseda in Dye pot with Soda Ash overnight.

Bring to a simmer for 1 hour.

Strain through Cloth, put to the side.

Add wool to the dye pot and simmer gently for 1 hour.

*For a paler yellow add the dye bag to the 2nd bath and add the next lot of     mordanted yarn.

**The same bath can be used up to 3 times.

Organic *ground, **cut or whole Hibiscus flowers 

Cultivated in Egypt.

PH sensitive, not wash or light fast. Great fun with kids or for hobby dyers. 

For a light purple colour on wool and deep pinks or green, using different mordants. 

*Use 50% of dye according to the weight of the dry fabric/fibre you would like to dye when using ground Hibiscus. 

**Use 75-100% of dye according to the weight of the dry fabric/fibre you would like to dye when using cut or whole Hibiscus. 

Colourfastness: poor
Ph sensitive: purple colour turns green with high Ph

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Hibiscus Dye Recipe wool ~ Downloadable PDF

Basic Recipe: 

This dye will need a mordant, Alum, when dyeing wool. 
10-15% of Alum. 
Mordanted fabric or yarn, 50% - 100% hibiscus dye. 

Black Walnut Shells ~ Dye Colour Earthy light and dark browns 

*Cultivated in the USA

Black Walnuts are a pleasure to dye with, the first dye bath will give a beautiful deep earthy brown colour and the second dye bath a light brown. Black Walnut Dye works best on silk and wool fibres.

Black Walnut is used in many different areas from dye to cosmetics to medicine. 

Colourfastness: good

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Basic Recipe:

50% ground or 100% whole Black Walnuts Soaked overnight

mordanted Fibre/Fabric 

After you have soaked the Walnuts in cold water overnight bring to 80 degrees Celsius for one hour. 

Strain out the shells/powder  and add mordanted fibre/fabric.

bring to 80 degrees for 1 hour. 
Leave overnight or 12 hours for deeper results. 

 Rinse and dry.

Glossy Buckthorn Bark Organic ~ Dye colour yellow golden, pinks and reds. 

*Collected in the Wild of Bosnia

To achieve reds and pinks, the PH needs to be increased to 10-11 (alkaline).  Keep in mind to always use PH neutral soap with PH sensitive colours. This dye gives a good green when iron is added and was used traditionally to make artist paint.

Colourfastness: Good

Ph Sensitive Dye

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Basic Recipe: 

65g bark, soaked in water for 2 days. 
100g mordanted yarn/fibre (Alum 13g)

Bring pot with dye to simmer For 2h.  
Strain through cloth, add yarn/fibre and dye bag to dye bath for 1h.  
Rinse.

MYROBALAN ~ a tannin used for (pre) mordanting cellulose (Cotton, Linen) Fibres. Recipe below.

ORIGN: India

Myrobalan is a very common tannin used in India and around Asia. It creates a plum-like fruit from various trees of the genus Terminalia, formerly used in medicine as a mild laxative and now used in the dyeing industry.

Myrobalan creates butter yellow on fabric, like most tannins. Tannin is important for mordanting cellulose fibres like cotton and linen. Alum alone is not a suitable mordant for cellulose fibres and its use will produce inferior colours.

Myrobalan can be used in print, over dye with indigo for teal, use as a stand alone colour or as a mordant.

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Recipe Downloadable PDF for creating Greys and Charcoal 

Basic recipe for mordanting cellulose fibres:

A 2 step process, please read through the entire instructions first.

Step 1:

Ingredients:

10% Myrobalan (10% of the weight of fabric (w.o.f.))


1.Fill a plastic or stainless steel vessel with hot water (40-50 d. Celcius/100-120F) to a 30:1 ratio (water:fabric)

2. add tannin and stir until dissolved or evenly distributed

3. add fabric, immerse fully for 1-2 hours. The bath will cool down, which is totally fine. Stir occasionally.

4. use rubber gloves when removing fabric, squeeze fabric. Rinse very lightly or better spin it out using a centrifugal spinner or washing machine. Tannin is bound to the fibre only by affinity and can be removed if rinsed aggressively.

5. save mordant for future use.

6. don't let it dry before moving to the 2nd mordanting step.

Step 2:

Ingredients:
Alum 12% (w.o.f.) Dissolved in enough boiling water, cool.
Soda Ash 1.5% (w.o.f.) Dissolve in enough boiling water, cool.

1. Combine the two solutions while stirring. It will bubble, so make sure your vessel is big enough.

2. Bubbles will subside quickly and you should be left with a clear liquid. Add additional hot water as described above. Follow steps 3 - 5 from above.

3. Rinse the textile well, to make sure any unattached mordant is rinsed off.

4. The textile may be dyed immediately or dried for future use.


Tips:

*Too hot and the tannin will oxidize, which is fine, if you want a potentially darker colour. For overdyeing, it is best to keep the colour as light as possible.
** You can also use cold water instead of hot, but it will require a 12h soak at least.
***Any tannin can be used with this recipe, but for lighter results use Oak Gall or Tara.

Enjoy!

SAFFLOWER DYE ~ lovely soft yellow and red

*Grown and harvested in Iran 

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds. Plants are 30 to 150 cm (12 to 59 in) tall with globular flower heads having yellow, orange, or red flowers. Each branch will usually have from one to five flower heads containing 15 to 20 seeds per head. Safflower is native to arid environments having seasonal rain. It grows a deep taproot which enables it to thrive in such environments. (wikipedia)

Safflower can give a lovely warm red, but it doesn't dye red on wool. First you have to knead the safflower in water for a long time, discarding the yellow dye regularly until the water turns red. It is a long process, but worth the effort. It will dye Linen, Cotton and other plant fibres.

Colourfastness: poor - medium
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Basic Recipe for yellow

100g dye, soaked in water overnight.
100g mordanted yarn/fibre (Alum 15g)

Bring pot with dye to simmer For 1h. Strain through cloth, add yarn/fibre and dye bag to dye bath for 1h. Rinse.

CATECHU DYE ~ Dye Colour Brown and Beige

Catechu, or better known as Cutch, is a powdered dye which results in beautiful brown tones. It can be used for Cotton, silk and wool Fiber.

Cutch contains two dyes, catechu-tannic acid, which is soluble in cold water, and catechin, which needs hot water to dissolve.

*Catechu is apparently very good for eczema.

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Basic Recipe

200gr wool (mordant optional see note below)

20gr of Cutch extract made into paste with boiling water (keep on adding, tends to be sticky)

Add to dye pot (hot water) and simmer, stir regularly; 
Add the wool and simmer for 1 hour, leave overnight. The longer, the deeper the colour of the dye.
Leave wool out to oxidize before rinsing.

*Several more skeins can be added later for lighter colours. Catechu is difficult to exhaust

**mordant wool with Alum for brighter results, but it will also dye a nice browns without any mordant.

***use Iron for darker results

POMEGRANATE PEELS ~ CUT & GROUND ORGANIC ~ can be used as Tannin and as yellow dye

The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between 5 and 10 m tall. The pomegranate originated in the region extending from Iran to northern India and has been cultivated since ancient times throughout the Mediterranean region.

 Colourfastness: good - excellent

Recipe:

For how to mordant your Cellulose fibres, please see my blog post 

 How to mordant linen and cotton fabrics successfully – AppleOak FibreWorks

If you are using protein fibres, a simple 10%Alum bath will do for mordanting, but protein fibres can also be dyed without a mordant when using Pomegranate peel due to its tannin content.

Once mordanted:

Add 100% pomegranate peel to 80degrees Celcius Water for one hour. (100% of the dry Weight of your Fibre/Fabric) If using powder, stir regularly or it will burn the bottom of your pan.

After an hour, switch of the heat and add the fabric/fibre. Leave to up to 3 days, until desired depth of colour. 

Wash, rinse, dry.

 Pomegranate Powder can also be used as a tannin and for printing when combined with Alum and Guar Gum.

FUSTIC HARDWOOD DYE, Dyer's Mulberry ~ Dye Colour yellow and green

Fustic was introduced into Europe in the 16th century. It is a viable source of yellow, creating clear bright yellows to greens when overdyed with indigo. Made from the hardwood of Chlorophora or Morus tinctoria, this tree is part of the Mulberry family.

Fustic is extremely strong and only 25% of  dye (W.D.F) is needed. Once dyed, the wood chips can be dried and re used again another time.

Colourfastness: poor to medium

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Basic Recipe:

25% Fustic cut

10% Alum

Mordant yarn by dissolving Alum in hot water, add yarn and leave overnight.

Pour hot water over the woodchips and leave steeping overnight.

The next day:

Rinse mordanted yarn.

Strain dye and dry for another day.

Add yarn to dye bath, heat to 85C for 1hour.

Rinse and dry yarn.

*When using the dye again, boil it for 45min, the yellow will be darker.

**You can change the colour to olive green by adding 3% Iron.

*** Creates lovely clear greens when overdyed with Indigo

OAK MOSS ~ Dye colour Champange Beige to Brown

*Oak Moss from responsibly harvested forests in Mazedonia.

Champagne is the closest colour I can think of to describe the colour obtained by Oak Moss. You can influence the nuances by adding different mordants, but generally no mordant is necessary.
Oak Moss is also used for Soap making to add texture and scrub to the soap.

Colourfastness: good

From Wikipedia
Evernia prunastri, also known as Oak Moss, is a species of lichen. It can be found in many mountainous temperate forests throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including parts of France, Portugal, Spain, North America, and much of Central Europe. Oak moss grows primarily on the trunk and branches of oak trees, but is also commonly found on the bark of other deciduous trees and conifers such as fir and pine. The thalli of oak moss are short (3–4 cm in length) and bushy, and grow together on bark to form large clumps. Oak moss thallus is flat and strap-like. They are also highly branched, resembling the form of deer antlers. The colour of oak moss ranges from green to a greenish-white when dry, and dark olive-green to yellow-green when wet. The texture of the thalli are rough when dry and rubbery when wet. It is used extensively in modern perfumery. 

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A basic Recipe:

50% oak moss or more
wool/yarn ~ no mordant needed

Simmer moss for 3 hours.
Strain through Cloth.

Add wet wool to the dye pot.

Let it simmer for 1h, cool and leave overnight.

Rinse and dry.

ALKANET ~ Dye Colour: Purple, grey

*Cultivated in India

**The dye colour goes more into a purple blue grey, but it depends on how you extract the dye and what mordants you use.

***Please be aware that you will need to extract the dye with alcohol to achieve true purples.

Colourfastness: Medium

Below is an extract from Wikipedia which describes the colour as red...Time to experiment!

Alkanna tinctoria, the dyer's alkanet or alkanet, is a herb in the borage family. Its main notability is its roots are used as a red dye. The plant is also known as dyers' bugloss, orchanet, Spanish bugloss or Languedoc bugloss. It is native in the Mediterranean region.

Alkanna tinctoria has a bright blue flower. The plant has a dark red root of blackish appearance externally but blue-red inside, with a whitish core. The root produces a fine red colouring material which has been used as a dye in the Mediterranean region since antiquity. The root as a dyestuff is soluble in alcohol, ether, and the oils, but is insoluble in water. It is used to give colour to wines and alcoholic tinctures, to vegetable oils, and to varnishes.

Powdered and mixed with oil, the alkanet root is used as a wood stain. When mixed into an oily environment it imparts a crimson color to the oil, which, when applied to a wood, moves the wood color towards dark-red-brown rosewood, and accentuates the grain of the wood.

Alkanet is traditionally used in Indian food under the name "Ratan Jot", and lends its red colour to some versions of the curry dish Rogan Josh. In Australia alkanet is approved for use as a food colouring, but in the European Union it is not.

It has been used as colorant for lipstick and rouge (cosmetics).

In alkali environments the alkanet dye has a blue/purple color, with the color changing again to crimson on addition of an acid. The colour is red at pH 6.1, purple at 8.8 and blue at pH 10. Hence, it can be used to do alkali-acid litmus tests (but the usual litmus test paper does not use alkanet as the agent and its colour change is closer to pH 7).

The colouring agent in Alkanna tinctoria root has been chemically isolated and named alkannin.

ORGANIC SAGE OFFICINALIS CUT ~ Dye Colour greenish yellow and green.

Country of Origin: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Fine for consumption

Salvia officinalis is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the Mediterranean region. The plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.

Sage has been used since ancient times and can be eaten, used in herbal medicine and dyeing.

Sage can be used fresh and dry.

Colour fastness: Good - Excellent

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Sage recipe downloadable PDF

Also available as dye kit

Basic recipe:

100% Sage
3-5% Iron
Wool (mordanted with Alum)

HEATHER DYE ~ Dye Colour yellow and green

 Heather blooms in late Summer here in Ireland, covering our green hills in a blanket of purple, pink and white. Heather was traditionally used to dye wool and tweed yellow and green brown.

The Flowers by themselves will give clearer yellows and greens with Iron. The whole Heather plant, due to the tannin in the wood, creates deeper golden yellows and green browns with iron.

Colourfastness: Medium

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Basic Recipe:

100-200% Heather

10% Alum

Mordant yarn by dissolving Alum in hot water, add yarn and leave overnight.

Extract dye, by adding to pot and bring to 85C for one hour. Strain.

Rinse mordanted yarn.

Add yarn to dye bath, heat to 85C for 1hour or leave overnight for a deeper colour.

Rinse and dry yarn.

*You can change the colour to olive green by adding 3% Iron.

ORGANIC NETTLES ~ Used as herb and dye. Dye Colour yellow and green.

Country of Origin: Hungary

Urtica Fol. Organic, often known as common nettle, stinging nettle or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Originally native to Europe it has now spread worldwide.

Nettles have been used since ancient times and can be eaten, are used in herbal medicine and dyeing.

Nettles can be used fresh and dry - similar to Lovage, the best results are achieved with fresh plants, but dried plant material works well as well.

Colourfastness: medium

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Basic recipe:

100-200% Nettle (100% if using fresh only)
3-5% Iron
Wool (mordanted 10% Alum)

Line the pot with a cloth. Fill the pot half with water and add the nettle.
Bring to about 85-95 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.

Tie dye in Cloth and leave in bath.
Add wool and simmer gently for 1 hour.

Add 3% -5% iron to the dye bath to turn it green.

Remove after about 10min, rinse & dry.

Dried Organic Oak Bark ~ Dye Colour Golden Beige and Browns

*Organic Oak Bark is cultivated in Poland, European production

**Oak Bark is used for plant dyeing Wool and Silk. You can use them as a dye without any need to fix the colour due to the tannin content or you could throw in a few oak galls to bring up the tannin content.

*** Oak bark tends to go darker with a higher PH (8) and lighter beige colours with a lower PH (5)

Colourfastness: Good
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Basic recipe:

50% - 100% of Oak Bark
Wool (Mordant not necessary)

Soak the bark overnight
Simmer for 2 hours
Strain through cloth.

Add wool to the dye bath simmer for one hour.
Let it cool and leave in dye bath overnight.

Rinse and dry.

Organic European Solidago ~ Dye Colour: yellow, orange and green

Our Solidago or Goldenrod in the common tongue, is organically grown and harvested in Europe, Poland.

Solidago, commonly called goldenrod, is a genus of about 100 to 120 species of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. Most are herbaceous perennial species found in open areas such as meadows, prairies, and savannas. They are mostly native to North America, including Mexico; a few species are native to South America and Eurasia. Some American species have also been introduced into Europe and other parts of the world. (wikipedia)

Colourfastness: medium - good

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Basic Recipe for yellow:

100% Solidago
wool (Alum mordant 10%)

Soak the leaves for a day or overnight before using.
Boil the soaked leaves for one hour and drain.

Simmer yarn for up to one hour. Rinse and dry.

WHOLE POMEGRANATE FLOWERS ~ Dye Colour Yellow

Harvested in India, wild Collection

Wool, Silks, Cotton and Linen can be dyed with Pomegranate. It gives a darker yellow, depending on quantities used. 

*Also suitable for soap making and consumption
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Colourfastness: Poor

Basic Recipe for yellow:

Basic Recipe for orange/yellow:

100gr wool or silk mordanted in 10% Alum and for 1 hour. 

50-100g flowers

1.Soak flowers over night. 
2.Pour mixture through a cloth, tie off the flowers (dye bag) and keep in the dye bath. 

3.To dye: Simmer wool for one hour. Leave in dye bath to cool (will deepen the colour)

Rinse and dry

BIRCH LEAVES DYE ORGANIC (Betula pendula) ~ Dye Colour yellow and green

A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae.

Colour fastness: Good

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Basic Recipe:

Alum (mordant) 15% D.W.F
Dry birch leaves 100-200% D.W.F

Soak the leaves for a day before using.

Boil the soaked leaves for one hour and drain. Add the alum to this solution and simmer the yarn for half to one hour.

*If the yarn is dried without rinsing and then placed in a weak birch ash lye, the colour becomes a reddish yellow.

**You can change the colour to green by adding 5% Iron.

Dyer's Broom cut

Traditionally used for dyeing yellow and green. The green will be more on the tan side.

Basic recipe:

100% Broom
10% Alum
3% Iron as green option

Mordant as required, extract broom in 85C degrees Celsius for 1h. Remove dye, switch off pot and add your item and leave overnight. Treat with iron as an after mordant. Rinse, wash.

Colour fastness: medium

ORGANIC HAWTHORN BERRIES ~ Dye Colour original beige/yellow - with iron: silver grey, grey green

Origin: Hungary

Hawthorn berries are rich in tannin and can be used to dye wool and silk (careful with iron, if pure silk) silver grey, grey and grey green. The colour palette is soft and earthy as you can see in the yarn pictures attached. Both yarns have been dyed with hawthorn.

Colourfastness: Poor - medium
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Basic recipe:

10% Alum
100% Hawthorn
1 -3% iron

Mordant yarn with 10% Alum either hot at 85 degrees celcius (185F) for one hour, or cold for 12h-24hrs.

Extract Hawthorn for 1-2 hours at 85 degrees celcius (185F). Strain dye.

Add mordanted yarn to dye liquor and leave for 1h at 85degrees/185F.

Add Iron to modify the colour, if you wish. The more iron you add the greener the colour. Aerate, between dips. Don't leave the yarn/fibre/fabric in the iron bath for long, about 5-10min is enough.

Rinse and hang to dry.

Dried (non-organic) Walnut Shells Ground ~ Dye Colour golden and dark Browns

*Walnut Shells powdered harvested in the wild of Macedonia 

Walnut shells or husks are used for plant dyeing Wool and Silk. Preferably, you would like to use green Walnut husks, the dye colour brown is more radiant, but not everybody has a Walnut tree in the back garden, so try these dried shells instead.

IF you do have a tree handy, do collect the green husks and freeze them. You can use them as a dye without any need to fix the colour due to the tannin content.

If you use the dried husks, I would suggest to use a mordant, too. But do try without it, you might like the result!

Colourfastness: good

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Basic recipe:

100% of Walnut shells
Wool (Mordant not necessary)

Soak the shells overnight
Simmer for 2 hours
Strain through cloth.

Add wool to the dye bath simmer for one hour.
Let it cool and leave in dye bath overnight.

Rinse and dry.

BIRCH BARK (Betula pendula) ~ Dye Colour pink, browns, salmon

A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae.

Colour fastness: poor - medium

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Basic Recipe:

Alum (mordant) 10-15% D.W.F
Birch Bark 100-200% D.W.F

Pour boiling water over the bark and steep for 24-48h

Boil the bark for two hours and strain. Add the mordanted yarn to the bath and leave until desired colour outcome or overnight.

*You can change the colour using iron, or other shifters like soda ash or citric acid

Dried Organic Walnut Shells ~ Dye Colour golden and dark Browns

*harvested in the wild in Croatia

Walnut shells or husks are used for plant dyeing Wool and Silk. Preferably, you would like to use green Walnut shells, the dye colour brown is more radiant, but not everybody has a Walnut tree in the back garden, so try the dried shells instead.

IF you do have a tree handy, do collect the green husks and freeze them. You can use them as a dye without any need to fix the colour due to the tannin content.

If you use the dried husks, I would suggest to use a mordant, too. But do try without it, you might like the result!

Colourfastness: Good - Excellent

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Basic recipe:

100% of Walnut shells
Wool (Mordant not necessary)

Soak the shells overnight
Simmer for 2 hours
Strain through cloth.

Add wool to the dye bath simmer for one hour.
Let it cool and leave in dye bath overnight.

Rinse and dry.

ROSEHIP SHELLS ORGANIC CUT OR GROUND ~ Dye Colour Yellow and Orange

Eastern Europe

Wool, Silks, Cotton and Linen can be dyed with Rosehip. It gives a light-yellow orange, depending on quantities used. 

*Also suitable for soap making and consumption
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Colourfastness: poor - medium

Basic Recipe for orange/yellow:

100gr wool or silk mordanted in 10% Alum and for 1 hour. 
200g Rosehip

1.Soak 100gr Rosehip overnight. 
2.Pour mixture through a cloth, tie off the Rosehip (dye bag) and keep in the dye bath. 

3.To dye: Simmer wool for one hour. Leave in dye bath to cool (will deepen the colour)

Rinse and dry

ALDER CONES (Alnus glutinosa)


Alder cones, just like the bark, have tannins present and can create some lovely browns and yellows.

Colour fastness: medium - good

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Basic Recipe:

Alum (mordant) 10-15% D.W.F
Alder cones 100-200% D.W.F

Pour boiling water over the cones and steep for 24-48h

Simmer the cones for two hours and strain. Add the mordanted yarn to the bath and leave until desired colour outcome or overnight.

*You can change the colour using iron