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Dye from walnut husks?

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FilipT:
Here in Europe people start to take walnuts and there are a lot around me. I collected over 2 kilograms of husks which range from almost complete green to the rotten ones with maggots inside.

My question is how do I make a good dye made from husks and possibly make it a little darker or stronger (alcohol maybe?)?
Last year I simply cooked them and got brownish color that stained well, I stained my first bow which I made then with it and looked really good. Problem is that kind of dye went bad, it smelled really bad and looked like it when I opened can of it some couple of weeks ago.

So you see I am seeking some sort of durability here.

Also I heard there is possible to make dye from bark of alder trees, anyone did that?

cantshoot:
I have been playing around with this. I soaked some in alcohol last year and it hasn't gone bad yet. It is a dark brown dye.

In addition to it's naturally dark colour walnuts are rich in tannic acid. This can be used to make a chemical reaction with iron to produce a natural black ink. Ink for pens used to be made tho way. By dissolving some steel wool in vinegar you can get an iron solution you can mix with your dye or apply it in layers to modulate the colour through dark brown all the way to jet black.

I'll try to dig up a photo.

cantshoot:
Here's a piece of red oak I did a full ebonizing on. For my next bow I want to make it BLACK and glossy finish.

Zuma:
Neat thread. 8)
Lots to learn here :)
Zuma

Spotted Dog:
 Agreed with steel wool and vinegar. You can put it in a milk jug and lid and it lasts a long time.
Or freeze it.

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