Black Walnut Dye
yarn and undersleeves dyed in black walnut The first way I became acquainted with black walnuts in a historic context was as a dye agent. When I first started reenacting, I was searching for something I could display. I had read Ersatz in the Confederacy, by Mary Elizabeth Massey, and was fascinated by some of the ingenious ways people were able to make do. The idea of using plants you found around you to dye wool and cotton fascinated me and I entered an experimental phase during which any possible dye plant was chopped up and thrown into my dye pot. My research turned up many references to black walnut as a well-known dye. One of its advantages was that its tannic nature meant it did not require a mordant, or chemical agent, to make the dye stable. The North American Sylva, or a Description of the Forest Trees of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, Vol 1, by F. Andrew Michaux mentions that the husk of the black walnut was used ...