HOW TO USE OAK GALL AS A TANNIN MORDANT | NATURAL DYE | ORGANIC COLOR | BEIGE TAN GRAY | IRON WATER

If you are lucky enough to find oak galls while foraging, grab a handful for your dye pot! The oak gall is full of tannin and is a great way to pretreat your textiles, especially plant (cellulose) fibers like cotton, linen, bamboo and hemp, to create stronger color bonds with natural dyes. The 'mordant' process is an extra, but important, step to help organic color last longer and protect it from fading with exposure to light and wash. Oak galls are a great option because they leave very little color on the fiber, but pack a tannin punch. You can also create beautiful grays using an iron water modifier with oak gall tannin. This video tutorial will show you how to treat fiber with oak gall tannin as a mordant, test it with hibiscus dye and shift colors to a full spectrum of light and bluish grays with iron. We will also test oak gall and hibiscus dye on wooden beads to add color to earthy handmade jewelry.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction - Oak gall
2:11 Oak gall tannin mordant
3:55 Tannin + iron
5:08 What exactly is an oak gall?
6:10 Tutorial highlights
7:25 How to make an oak gall tannin mordant - cold & hot soak
9:21 How to make hibiscus dye
9:49 How to dye wooden beads - oak gall tannin, hibiscus & iron
12:34 How shift color with iron water
14:04 Fiber swatch & wooden bead results
15:58 Recap
20:41 Sneak peek of next tutorial
21:34 Blooper
SUPPLY LIST
Oak gall - whole or ground
Hibiscus flowers - dried
Iron powder and/or homemade iron rust water
Gloves
Mortar & pestle
Pot with lid
Measuring cup
Measuring spoon
Strainer
Spoon
Bowl
Scale
Glass jars
Fiber
Wooden beads
COOKIN' COLOR DIGITAL COURSE - Self-paced video workshop on the basics of natural dyeing and a step-by-step demonstration of an ombre dip-dye technique on textile: www.margaretbyrd.com/cookin-c...
DOWNLOAD FREE NATURAL DYER'S QUICK START GUIDE - 11 tips to a successful natural dye practice: margaretbyrd.ck.page/natural-...
DOWNLOAD FREE COOKIN' COLOR BREW BOOKLET - 4 natural dyes to make from food in your kitchen: margaretbyrd.ck.page/cookin-c...
OAK GALL & IRON POWDER - Where to buy
botanicalcolors.com/
ABOUT MY CHANNEL
Color Quest is a creative channel where we explore the wide world of natural color! If you love using organic materials in all of your arts & crafts projects, join me as I share tutorials and vlogs on how to find and create a rainbow of color from plants and the earth they live in.
I'm passionate about natural dyes and pigments which I use extensively in my art practice, so I'm thrilled to share my curiosity, excitement and knowledge of nature's palette with you.
xoxo - Margaret, aka Byrdie
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#naturalcolor #organic #artsandcrafts #naturaldye #tutorial #diy

[@dianedaoust8472]

thank you just discovered your channel ! Very informative and clear ..step by step so grateful !

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

How wonderful, Diane, thank you! Best of luck in your dye studio 💚

[@somepinkflowers]

So useful. 🌸 Watching it twice. 💕💕

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

That is twice as nice! Many thanks for all your natural dyeing juju 💕

[@bjchadwick4261]

Very interesting information. Thanks!

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

You are most welcome!

[@nadaelmurshidy2510]

Thank you so much for sharing

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

My pleasure, Nada! Thank you for your sweet words and for joining us here at Color Quest all the way from Egypt 🤎

[@KimClark-1]

Very interesting demonstration!

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

Many thanks, Kim! Love the tannin/iron combo in natural dyeing 🤎

[@dorinases]

Thank you! Does the alum mordant wash away from the fabric if washed? Or there would be residue of aluminum in fabric?

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

You're welcome! No, once you've treated fabric with a mordant, it adheres to the fiber and will not wash out.

[@sivrebekkaholst3640]

Hi so interesting! Im doing a similar project with oak galls and was wondering if you ever tried with the 20%, 30% ?

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

To be honest, I'm not sure, but I suspect not. Give it a try and let us know how it goes. Seems it would just create richer and deeper results 🤎

[@bronsonleiro]

Hey there, I was wondering your opinion on using oak gall powder as a mordant instead of soymilk, or if maybe you think both would be worth doing. I have been looking to dye without mineral salts, and I did a few jackets from your soymilk method + yellow onion skin. Has turned out very well, but I now found a source for oak gall powder and some research suggests it may be a good substitute if not work better. Would love to here your input. Thanks in general you have been a pivotal source of information

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

Hiya! So great to have you here at Color Quest and thanks for your question. Tannin is an excellent source of a plant-based binder if you want to avoid traditional mordant salts like alum. Gallo tannin is a wonderful choice because it is light in color which doesn't typically influence the dye result on fiber. Soy milk is a great alternative and used widely across the globe, but tannins are considered on par with mineral salts and often used in conjunction with them. If you have tannin, go for it!

[@marin706]

My oak gall is not hard like that it’s more like a thin shell

[@nirjamohunta4102]

Hi I dipped my silk in alum. And also added some madder powder. Will soak it overnight. Will this work. Shall place leaves in the morning then steam.

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

Hi Nirja - how did your experiment go? Madder is quite strong, so it is possible that a cold soak would work for the color to bond to the fiber. It's wonderful that you are being creative and trying new things in your dye studio - that is how you discover what works and what you love 🌼

[@nirjamohunta4102]

@@MargaretByrdColorQuest do send me your e mail I shall send you pics of the experiment.

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

@@nirjamohunta4102 Hi NIrja - you can find my contact details in the About section here on my channel.

[@RachelRamey]

Can you use tea as a mordant like this?

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

Great question, Rachel. Yes, many teas have a high tannin content, like black and green teas, so it could be used to help bind color. It won't be as strong using a metal salt like alum, but it is a good option to use the natural power of tannins.

[@RachelRamey]

Thank you!

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

@@RachelRamey You are most welcome!

[@JM_Lauderdale]

It's an oak gall. Oak trees get this abnormality by a female wasp inserting their eggs into the tree buds.

[@MargaretByrdColorQuest]

Welcome to Color Quest! Many thanks for sharing more about the magic of oak galls 🐝