ALDER BARK
The bark and twigs of alder are used for dyeing brown and black. For 1 lb. wool use 1 lb. alder bark. Boil the wool with it for 2 hours, when it should be a dull reddish brown. Add ½ oz. copperas for every pound of wool for black.
SUMACH
Sumach is the ground up leaves and twigs of the Rhus coriaria growing in Southern Europe. It dyes wool a yellow and a yellow brown, but it is chiefly used in cotton dyeing.
WALNUT
The green shells of the walnut fruit and the root are used for dyeing brown. The husks are collected when the fruit is ripe, put into a cask and covered with water. In this way they can be kept for a year or more; it is said the longer they are kept the better colour they give. Without a mordant the colour is quite fast, but if the wool is mordanted with alum a brighter and richer colour is got. When used they are boiled in water for ¼ hour, then the wool is entered and boiled till the colour is obtained. Long boiling is not good as it makes the wool harsh. It is much used as a "saddening" agent; that is for darkening other colours. William Morris says:—
"The best and most enduring blacks were done with this simple dye stuff, the goods being first dyed in the indigo or woad vat till they were a very dark blue, and then browned into black by means of the walnut root."
"Of all the ingredients used for the brown dye, the walnut rind is the best. Its shades are finer, its colour is lasting, it softens the wool, renders it of a better quality, and easier to work. To make use of this rind, a copper is half filled, and when it begins to grow luke-warm, the rind is added in proportion to the quantities of stuffs to be dyed and the colour intended. The copper is then made to boil, and when it has boiled a quarter-of-an-hour, the stuffs which were before dipped in warm water, are put in. They are to be stirred and turned until they acquire the desired colour."—James Haigh, 1797.
PEAT SOOT gives a good shade of brown to wool. Boil the wool for 1 to 2 hours with peat soot. Careful washing is required in several changes of water. It is used sometimes for producing a hazel colour, after the wool has been dyed with weld and madder.
OAK BARK. Mordant with alum and dye in a decoction of oak bark.