Hand dyeing felt

[Lean'n'mean]

So I have a hat that I'm not happy with regarding it's color. I know there are plenty of loungers that really dig light colored hats but I'm not one of 'em. The hat in question is a standard Aussie bunny fur with a 3" brim & a 5" open crown, so pretty modest in it's dimensions but it's color just makes me cringe. A bright beige, very similar to Akubra's 'sand'............it just ain't me.
What I really would have liked was to dye it a light khaki (grayish brown) but that would be near impossible. I did plan to dye it brown but I thought I'd try to tone it down a bit & see what that gives & for this I chose to use a dye of my own making using walnut husks/hulls (the fleshy green bits covering the nut). I have used this type of dye before on other objects & as we are smack bang in the walnut season, I thought why not give it a go.
I collected the husks, cut then into 1/2 inch pieces & let them oxidize overnight .
The hulls;


The next day I put the blackened bits into a large pan, filled it with water & then brought the mixture to a rolling boil, after which I let it simmer for about an hour. The resulting concoction is very similar to black coffee.


Here is the offending hat, stripped down & ready for a tan.....


I plunged the hat into the dye bath, only for a few minutes then rinsed until clear & set aside to dry. I have to say I'm rather pleased with the result, it's a sort of tan, unfortunately my camera is unable to show the true color, it always photographs lighter than it is so after taking loadsa pics in all different light conditons, the photo below is prehaps the nearest I can get but the actual color is still a little darker than the photo shows..



Anyway it's a color I can live with & now all I have to do is decide on which style to shape it & what kind of hatband or ribbon to put on it.

 

[John Galt]

Intriguing! Well done. I've dyed ribbon, but have not yet tried a body. Looks like the color came out even.

 

[moehawk]

How cool! I have dyed fur felt before, but never made my own dye. Makes me wonder what natural colors are growing in my area.

 

[Fed in a Fedora]

Black walnut does such a great job on linen, cotton and leather items common to early American reenacting that your result does not surprise me. However, I would be curious to know how durable this stain is without some form of mordant fixing the stain into the felt permanently. I hope that I am wrong, but I suspect that you may experience some fading and wash out over time and use.

Fed

 

[DOGMAN]

Looks like it turned out great.

 

[belfastboy]

How did you handle the leather sweat? Did you remove it or immerse it too?

I have a white, undyed beaver hat, it is a blank unbashed. I plan to cut the brim down, dye it grey with purchased dye. First I have to find a way to cut the brim down and then do the dye job. I only paid $30 on Ebay so I don't have much at stake but it is a great hat that has a ton of potential and I would feel crappy if I ruined it.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Black walnut does such a great job on linen, cotton and leather items common to early American reenacting that your result does not surprise me. However, I would be curious to know how durable this stain is without some form of mordant fixing the stain into the felt permanently. I hope that I am wrong, but I suspect that you may experience some fading and wash out over time and use.

Fed

Wow!

My only concern would be the possible acidity/alkalinity of the "brew" degrading and corroding the felt/leather.
It looks GR8!
You can "fix" the dye in a 4/1 water & vinegar bath, I have heard... or maybe I'm thinking of Soda Ash. What did the NDNs use?

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Now this is a way Terry can kill his hatred silverbelly hats lol

 

[RJR]

Yeh,TJ ought to be all over this.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Black walnut does such a great job on linen, cotton and leather items

Yeah I have used dried black walnut powder (specifically for dyes) in the past but it produces a rather muddy blackish brown color which isn't really what I was looking for. Besides I don't have any black walnut trees to hand.

However, I would be curious to know how durable this stain is without some form of mordant fixing the stain into the felt permanently. I hope that I am wrong, but I suspect that you may experience some fading and wash out over time and use.

I'm curious too. Walnut dye is usually color fast even without a fixative, both to water & light but I've no idea how it will last on felt but if you don't experiment you'll never know
I'm not really bothered though as I don't plan on wearing the hat in the rain & if it does fade to the original color, I'll just make up some more dye next year

 

[Lean'n'mean]

How did you handle the leather sweat? Did you remove it or immerse it too?

I took everything off I don't think leather would appreciate such treatment as the dye was pretty hot at the time.

I have a white, undyed beaver hat, it is a blank unbashed. I plan to cut the brim down, dye it grey with purchased dye. First I have to find a way to cut the brim down and then do the dye job. I only paid $30 on Ebay so I don't have much at stake but it is a great hat that has a ton of potential and I would feel crappy if I ruined it.

Finding the right dye is very difficult with felt hats.....fabric dyes usually involve immersing the object in near boiling water for a long period which I don't think is the best thing for a finished hat body. Hair dye works ok & are a little more kinder to the felt but the choice of colors is limited unless you want brown, black or red....
If you have a white hat & you don't like it, you have to take the plunge...

 

[moehawk]

As far as fixatives go, soda ash is used for modern dyes used for natural plant fibers, these work at a lower temp as in tap temp hot water, vinegar or acetic acid is used for the dye designed for protien fibers. Dye for protein fibers is recommended to be used at 150f but I have had great results at closer to 130f. Go buy a cheap beat-up light colored fur felt at a thrift store or yard sale and practice on it so as to learn what not to do.

 

[belfastboy]

I am going to try to finesse it. Leave the sweat installed, turn it out and plunge it crown first. Then finesse the underside of the brim and see if I can avoid total immersion of the sweat. My bigger problem is to come up with a way of trimming the brim.
My local hatter wants $40 to trim it and I want to do this one on the cheap mostly to see if I can do it without screwing it up!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Go buy a cheap beat-up light colored fur felt at a thrift store or yard sale and practice on it so as to learn what not to do.

Good advice. This particular hat only cost the equivalent of $10 which is why I was willing to take the chance.

 

[John Galt]

I am going to try to finesse it. Leave the sweat installed, turn it out and plunge it crown first. Then finesse the underside of the brim and see if I can avoid total immersion of the sweat. My bigger problem is to come up with a way of trimming the brim.
My local hatter wants $40 to trim it and I want to do this one on the cheap mostly to see if I can do it without screwing it up!

For what it is worth, I don't think this is a good idea. You are likely to mottle the body, or end up with a line or colors variation where the body gets two coats. When I dye ribbon, it is important to dunk the whole piece at once to obtain a uniform coverage without variations, striations, etc. Better to dunk the entire body.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is my totally made up plan......immerse the crown and top side of the brim with the sweat band outboard the hat. Then swirl the hat so the underside of the brim gets soaked in sections but quickly. The sweat will obviously get some immersion but will not sit in the hot broth. If there is any mottling it will be on the underside of the brim. In my MIND it is the perfect plan........but then!!!!

 

[moehawk]

I would have to agree with Mr. Galt on the matter of leaving the sweat in. Most acid dye instructions call for immersion in the dye bath with heat on until the bath reaches temp. Then the fixative is added, and the item is recommended to be left in the bath for 30 minutes, then rinsed in hot water to avoid shocking the fiber and causing shrinkage or deforming. I think you'd be best off removing the sweat, or just enjoying a nice white beaver hat.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I can see what you're trying to do Belfastboy but like the others I think total immersion in one go would be best. After the first dunk, a good part of the colorant has been used/absorbed by the item to be dyed & so the mixture will be weaker. Doing it bit by bit, you risk having different tones over the hat, a darker crown, lighter top brim & even lighter under brim & may also become blotchy as the dye weakens.
Removing a sweatband & resewing it in place afterwards isn't that difficult but if you really want to keep it in, then dunking the hat for a short period may not damage the sweat though it may crumple a little. If the hat fits just right, you'll need to put a hat jack in or put it over a block while it dries as it will likely shrink a little. When dry, applying a leather conditioner to the sweat will help it recover.

 

[mayserwegener]

Amateur hour.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

There's a lot to said for amateurism. Many innovations & discoveries are down to amateurs thinking outside the box.