Natural Dyes

[Drudonn]

In my quest to become a wizard (at least for faire) I want some brown pants for my garb. I've got some white drawstring pants from my days in martial arts----which I am looking to dye brown using natural dyes.

My first thought was to use tea bags--, but after soaking for a good long while, they are only slightly khaki colored. I looked online and found a site (http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html) that suggests a variety of ingredients, and I'm looking at using coffee (which I have immediate access to), and walnuts--a walnut tree is in the back yard...however, I don't know if there are any nuts at the moment....and it's raining...

Has anyone else attempted to do any dyeing with natural ingredients, and not store-bought dye? Or have you dyed anything yourself, store-bought dye or no? Post your pics here!

[Drudonn]

Upon learning that the walnut tree had been cut down after the last big hurricane (it had to be removed to rebuild the fence), I decided to go with using coffee.

The pants came out a pretty color of brown: (seen here hanging to dry in my shower). What I do like is that they are not a clean, even brown--it's a little splotchy and dirty looking--close-up: , which fits well with my wizard persona, as a figure who lives in the wilderness and so is a bit rough and dirty, and not all pristine.

[Woodland Artisan]

I know this isn't an option for you anymore but I used walnut dye that I made myself.   I've made walnut dye for my traditional woodworking for many years and just used the unfiltered, unconcentrated "soup" (which I refine and concentrate further for my woodworking dyes) on my wool cloak.  Some modifications had to be made for use on fabrics, but with the advice of another forum member (Mythrin from the St Louis Faire), it worked very very well.   I'll see if I can find any pictures of it but it went from completely white to a very dark brown.