Saksanjalopähkinää kasvaa laajalla alueella Euroopassa, mutta Suomessakin voi kasvaa jalopähkinöitä. Omani ovat vielä pieniä, viime vuonna saamani vuoden vanha taimi mantsurainjalopähkinää (Juglans mandshurica) talvehti hyvin viime talven maassa, sen emokasvi on Hämeenlinnassa, joten miksei se viihtyisi myös meillä. Kuva alla.
IN ENGLISH
Husks of common walnut (Juglans regia) are one of the rare natural dyestuffs that are fast without a mordant. Different species of walnuts (Juglans) have been used for dyeing around the world and besides tannins, they contain many derivatives of Juglone, according to Cardon mostly in the fruits (6-8% of the dry weight), but also in the roots, young shoots and catkins.
Common walnut grows in most of the Europe, but also in Finland you can grow some Juglans species. My own trees are still very small, I got Juglans mandshurica a year ago and it survived last winter without any damage. Of course the mother tree of my little one grows in Hämeenlinna, about 100 kilometres north form us, so it should grow also here. Picture of my plant below.
Sain kasviystävältä muutaman pähkinän, jotka hän oli poiminut taskun pohjalle Budabestin puistoista. Sain nämä mustajalopähkinänä, Juglans nigra, mutta täytyy hiukan tutkia josko ne kuitenkin olisivat saksanjalopähkinää. Joka tapauksessa hienoa, että ne itivät nyt toukokuussa. Alla kuva taimesta.
IN ENGLISH
Last autumn I sowed also some other walnuts, although it is doubtful if I am dyeing anything any more when these trees are mature and produce walnuts, but then they are for someone else:) It is always good to plant a tree.
I got couple of walnuts from a friend who picked them from a park in Budabest while in holiday there last year. I got them as Black walnut, Juglans nigra, but I have been thinking that maybe they are Common walnut after all, I'm not sure. Anyway, I am pleased that they germinated well this May. Picture below.
IN ENGLISH
I also got from another friend Butternut (Juglans cinerea) walnuts from a tree that grows here in Finland, in Tammela, also north from us, and they all germinated well. I'm already late in giving them each an own pot. It seems I will have a whole forest of walnut trees here some day:)
Nyt laitoin kuoret likoamaan huhtikuussa ja kesäkuussa lisäsin liotusämpäriin kaksi vyyhtiä valkoista lankaa. Toinen purettamaton ja toinen alunalla puretettu. Ämpäri oli kasvihuoneessa lämpimässä kaksi viikkoa, kunnes viime viikolla otin langat pois. Ajattelin, että väri olisi tarttunut viileässäkin, mutta se oli aika vaalea värjäyksen jälkeen. Siirsin langat puhtaaseen veteen, jonka lämmitin 80°C, ja lisäsin 4g rautavihtrilliä, mutta en edelleenkään saanut tummanruskeaa, vaan väri muuttui likaisen vihertävän ruskeaksi. No voi. Alla kuvassa oikealla vaaleampi alunapuretettu ja vasemmalla tummempi purettamaton, ja siis molemmilla jälkipuretuksena rautavihtrilli.
Käytetty kuoriliemi on taas seisomassa, ja on hyvin tummaa, lisää väriä irtoaa ja pitää vaan odottaa.
Jatkossa teen kuten ennenkin: pitkän liotuksen jälkeen keitto ja värjäys kuumassa, jäähdytys väriliemessä. Ja pitkä liotus tarkoittaa useita kuukausia, jossain puhutaan vuodesta. Mitä pidempi sen parempi. Likoavat kuoret ovat sitten valmiina joskus kun ei mitään muuta värjäystä ole odottamassa. Vaikka en koskaan olekaan saanut sitä oikeaa tummanruskeaa, niin myös aiemmin saamani vaalean ruskea on ollut ihan hyvä, ja voisin kuvitella sen olevan hyvä pohjaväri vaikkapa krappivärjäyksille tai kokenillille.. varsinkin jos ei ole käytettävissä lampaanruskeaa lankaa, vaan ainoastaan valkoista.
Joka tapauksessa pähkinänkuori toimii näköjään myös kylmävärjäyksenä, vaikkakin väristä tulee vaaleampi. Saksanpähkinänkuorta löytyy nyt myös kaupastani.
IN ENGLISH
I have previously dyed with walnuts with long soak, then boiling them and also dyeing in hot bath and gotten nice light to medium brown (a brown not biege), but nothing like what Ladka had gotten from walnuts. Look at that dark chocholate color!
This time I put the walnuts (200grams) to soak in April and after two months in May added two skeins of yarn to the bath, one unmordanted and one mordanted with alum and cream of tartar. I kept the bucket in the greenhouse and after two weeks I took the yarns from the bath. I though that walnuts would dye well also without heating ,but the color was quite pale (much lighter than if heated), so I put the yarns to fresh water and heated it to simmer, and added 4grams of iron to the bath for 15 minutes. I still didn't get dark brown but insted the yarns had changed to muddy olive greenish brown. Sigh. In the picture below the alum mordanted lighter yarn is on the right and unmordanted little darker on the left, and both had been in iron afterbath.
Now the used walnut husks are soaking again, and I am sure there will be more color in them after some months, I will just have to wait. It is good to know that walnut dye works in cold bath also (even if it gives lighter color), but I think next time I will do like I have done before: simmer after a long soak, and then dye in hot bath, and cool the yarns in the bath. Long soak means really a long soak, months, the longer the better. Some books even say a year, so I can keep the soaking husks and dye when I don't have anything else, even if it is next year.
Even though I have never gotten that dark chocholate brown, the lighter brown is also nice, and I can imagine it would be a good base to madder or cochineal, especially if there isn't natural sheep brown in hand, only white wool or silk.
I had a pair of white woolen socks that I died with walnut hulls when I was about 8 years old. The brown from the walnuts stayed true until the socks wore out about 20 years later!
ReplyDeleteIt touched me to read with what loving care you tend your baby walnut trees while I'm blessed with an orchard (opened to everybody) with sixteen young adult walnut trees about five minutes awaxy from my home. There I can pick fallen green walnuts in June and green hulls in autumn.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it's always good to plant a tree:-)
I dyed with the green hulls from Juglans nigra without a mordant. I picked them up in autumn in a Botanical Garden. The color is a little bit lighter than chocolate but stable for years.
ReplyDeleteRuth
Thanks for the comments. Perhaps it is the green hulls which give the chocholate color? Ladka, do you know if your walnuts are Juglans regia or Juglans nigra? Lilies book says that different species give a little idfferent shade of brown, but doesn't tell which species is the best.
ReplyDeleteOnnea pähkinämetsällesi! Kauniita pähkinäpuut ovat, vaikkei niiden satoa itse ehtisikään hyödyntää. Monenlaista jaksat! Tai taitaa olla niin, että ilman näitä kaikkia upeita kokeiluja ei jaksaisikaan:-)
ReplyDeleteLarisa
It is the Juglans regia that I use ( ie. obtain) exclusively.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ladka, so it isn't the species but something else, because these husks are the same, except I have bought them dried.
ReplyDeleteHei Larisa, minustakin ne ovat tosi kauniitä puita, ihan siksikin niitä on kiva kasvatella, ja kun nämä ovat Budabestin pähkinöitä lukuunottamatta kotimaista kantaa, niin niiden pitäisi olla myös kohtuullisen kestäviä. Nämä kasvijutut ovat minun hömpötystäni, ja ne kyllä auttavat jaksamaan:)
The tree you weren't sure about is a black walnut, I think. My 15-20 metre tall backyard tree is a Juglans regia, aka common, Persian or English walnut. The leaves are more rounded and have a much larger terminal leaf - more like your butternut.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the hulls work as well after they are dried. If I want to store them before I'm ready to soak them, I put them in the freezer, nuts and all. These are the culls, the only ones the evil squirrels leave for me!
The colours I get are tans to browns but not as dark as chocolate, even with iron modifier. Probably the black walnut is more intense but I've never tried it.
Thanks Louisa. I hope it is is black walnut, because I think it is more cold hardy than common walnut. Butternut and Juglans mandshurica are more hardy, although quite rare in Finland, so that's why I'm so happy about all my small walnut trees.
ReplyDeleteagreed it's good to plant a tree for the future.
ReplyDeletei have dyed using green walnut husks.
put them in a bad in water and put some silk skeins in the tub. some weeks later i remembered and took them out. lovely browns! same with wool, although the color came out a bit less rich.
still have the bag in the tub and add water periodically.the husks keep giving out color.
oops! i meant a bag :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Neki for the encouragement, my husks are soaking again:)
ReplyDeleteJust FYI, you might want to not plant a black walnut in your garden as they have an excessive level of juglone in the roots that impedes the growth of other plants under and around them (roots can extend 3-4 times the size of the canopy). I've seen one large walnut poison an entire field. You have such a beautiful garden, wouldn't want to see anything happen to it. Other walnuts are fine though. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, I didn't know that black walnut contained more juglone in it's roots than other walnuts.
ReplyDeleteWe have about four hectares of land and I can plant them near the forest, so my actual garden is safe.:) And I hope the juglone keeps also hares and deer away from it.
Hi Leena
ReplyDeleteLovely blog as always and very informative.
I have an idea - I think I have read somewhere that if the walnuts are exposed to air the colour oxidises and is not available as a dye. I will try and hunt the reference up. Like you I have had pale coffees but I have also had rich browns in the past.
Thanks Helen, the oxidation feels familiar, I think I have read about it somewhere, too. A Finnish friend got dark brown from the same walnuts with only a week's soak and then boiling them vigorously for three hours. And her yarn was commercial superwash yarn, which always soaks up the dye better than my yarn. But I think I'm going to try prolonged boiling, too.
ReplyDelete