The cutest little red-head in the world, Big Sis, showing off her walnut hull dye silk scarf. This is the finished product, but read on to find out how we did this!
Step One: Take a neighborhood walk and search for walnut hulls. Late October is a good time. We collected perhaps 20 mostly blackened hulls with some green still on them. Because they easily stain, the hulls were placed in a plastic bag.We brought them home and I cut each one around the flesh and put them in hot water in a stainless steel pot on the stove.
I boiled the concoction, hulls and all, for about 10 minutes, then added the silk fabrics.
Silk is somewhat resistant to dyes. This is why I thought boiling the silk in the dye would help it really take. I have no idea if it was neccessary, but that is what I did. At this point, the procedure got boring and the kids wandered off....After a good 20 minutes in boiling dye (hulls still in the water) I removed the silk in the pot and let it all sit overnight.
The next day, we rinsed the silks in cold water until the water ran clear, then I set the dye with a nice hot iron (on the silk setting.) Initially, the scarves had that piney-walnut scent. But after ironing, the smell disappeared. The color is lovely and even- a nice fall brown that reminds us all of the prairie in the fall.
This looks like a terrific project. Great minds think alike--I actually got some silk scarves and dye from Dharma for "my birthday", and earlier this week we tried the "microwave" method. Dharma recommends this as better to set the dye. Also we soaked in vinegar before dyeing. But your color is lovely, actually much prettier than our test scarves of pinks and purples. I'll keep trying--maybe soaking for longer.
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