Oak galls are small, spherical distortions of oak tree branches made by a small wasp that pupates inside. The galls (after the wasp has left!) are full of natural tanins, and have been boiled up with water to use as a mordant for certain dyes, or for writing ink for hundreds of years. Non toxic, but still best to keep out of reach of children when not supervised.
All our galls are collected locally, and as each tree may have only 2 or 3 galls within reach (and many trees have none), collecting these special things is very time consuming and involves much walking and searching!
To use for mordanting you will need approximately half the weight of galls to the weight of fibre to be dyed.
Recipes supplied on request.
