Oak gall dyes/ink

Oak trees are attack by many insects and the reaction to this is to form galls. The trees often have growths that look like mini whipped ice cream cones. Removing them does the trees no harm and they then can be boiled to make a brown sludge. Once filtered the sludge can be kept with the addition of 4-5 cloves for a few months and when a ink or dye is needed adding Iron water to it will produce a brownish black solution that can be thicken for ink/painting or used to dye fabrics.

The galls used are called KNOPPLER GALLS and more information about galls can be found at the RHS website www.rhs.org.uk in the advice section.

Avocado dye

After eating the flesh the nuts are cleaned and the brown thin covering removed. The nut is then grated and allowed to dry. The powdered avocado needs to be gently boiled like milk for around 2 hours and is best done in an outdoor as it is very smelly.