Dyeing Buckskin with Black Walnut Hulls

I've been doing a lot of dyeing lately, as the color of smoked buckskin attracts too much attention in town. The rich brown color of black walnut is a perfect remedy for that.

In the fall we gathered whole black walnut husks and dried them. Then they kept fine over the winter in paper bags under the car port.

Making the dye is real simple. I've tried both passive and active methods.

For the passive method, I just used a 5-gallon bucket, filled it halfway with black walnut hulls in an onion bag (for easy straining), and filled up the rest with water. I also put a rock on top of the bag because the dried hulls wanted to float up. It took two weeks for the dye to be dark enough.

For the active method, I used a stainless steel pot. You don't want to use an iron or aluminum pot or it will react with the tannins in the hulls and turn the dye black (see Note at the end of this post). I filled the pot halfway with hulls and then the rest with water. I brought the solution to a simmering point and let it simmer for twenty minutes for a nice brown color. You can let it simmer longer if you want the dye to be darker. Don't let it boil though or it will dull the color toward gray. Then I let the mixture cool and strained the hulls.

The hulls can be dried again or reused again immediately. I've reused mine 3-4 times and they're still giving out a nice color.


I leave my buckskin in the dye for 12-24 hours depending on how dark I want it to be, moving it as often as possible so that it dyes as evenly as possible. Ideally it would need to swim freely in the solution but it would take a large volume of dye. Moving it seems to be working fine, though you need to make sure that it's continually submerged or the parts above water may stain. No mordant is required. Also, be aware that the longer the skins soak in the dye, the stiffer they will become as the bath is very astringent and will tighten the fibers of the skin.


After that, I wring my skins real well back in the bucket, then rinse it well with clear water in another bucket. I change that water 3-4 times until it runs more clearly.


Then, I lay the buckskin down and stretch it flat before I hang it out of the sun. If you leave your dyed fabric in the sun it will darken it unevenly.


I've been able to dye 4 skins in the amount of dye made above. Then, the solution turned toward yellow and the new skins didn't absorb much brown anymore.


Don't leave the dye solution in a plastic bucket for more than a month or so or the tannins will start eating through the plastic! The dye solution will preserve for a few weeks. If you want to preserve it for longer add a half a cup of vinegar and a quarter cup of salt to it. You can also simmer it down so that you end up with a concentrate you can store in glass jars.


Beware of splashes! They will stain whatever they come in contact with, including your own skin.


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Note: If you want to make black dye you can use iron shavings in your black walnut solution. Alternatively, you can simmer the hulls in a cast iron pot or drop a smaller cast iron pan in your big dyeing pot.

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