Can you dye woolrich?

[Spinster]

Re: Can you dye woolrich?

(The kettle or cauldron needed to dye a greatcoat would be a bear to transport around.. ;) )


Curt

Yep. :D.

I've plauged a certain state historian for years to mount an expedition, go remove some salt kettles from an obscure Alabama site, and install said kettles at the historic site he runs. Obviously, I have designs on those kettles, and not for salt.

Hog scalders or salt kettles are about the only things big enough to do this job. The type of washpots commonly available, about a #18, won't do this job--the fabric is too crowded to have a snowball's chance of dyeing evenly.

The wash kettle utilized at the 2008 Winter 64 in Newfane, New York, pictured below, is marginally capable of doing the job---one coat at a time. Having once transported 100 gallons of stinky oozy gooey black walnut dye in the back of my brand new mini-van, I know the hazards of such an undertaking, and will not be volunteering to haul dye up there.:tounge_sm

[ohpkirk]

Re: Can you dye woolrich?

That brings up a second question now, what sort of natural dies would a confederate soldier, or company have access to in the field for this alteration from sky blue to a brown or black color?

Thanks,
Matt Sternad

You can bleach wool with urine and direct sunlight....good luck with that. Then within a week or so of usage, the white will turn a dusty gray brown color. This, sans the bleaching part, is how my undyed garments looked by the fourth day of BGR.

[Spinster]

Re: Can you dye woolrich?

The urine lightening process is not nearly the bad job one would think--especially if one has access to proper raw materials:p.

The soldiers in the barracks just a short distance from the location of my fall dye run are quick to volunteer to take a bucket per room, and bring them out each morning to empty into the kettle of the day.

We then get a hard boil on this kettle (not necessary for the process to work, but for my own squeamishness), and allow it to cool back down to about 160 degrees before placeing the wool in the kettle, for a long simmer.

The wool is then lifted and spead on painted cloth in direct sun, and left out overnight. An assessment the next morning determines whether it is then going back in the first pot, or going through a simmer in clean water before an additional day in the sun.

If one does not have a number of willing contributors, then the process becomes more onerous, as small amounts of urine collected and stored over a span of weeks tends to ferment.

For the record, beer drinking does not aid in this process---the urine is more dilute and does not contain the needed chemicals.