Oak Gall Organic Dye: Coffees, Burnt Yellows, Black, Grey

The oak gall, also known as oak apples, are the marble to egg size lumps grown by oak trees that have unwanted wasp larvae eating at its twigs. The galls are easy to collect, grind, and produce a wonderful black which has been used in basket making by Native Americans. They are full of tannins and can be used as a mordant when dyeing cellulose fibers such as cotton and linen.

A common mordant used for oak gall is alum. To achieve a deep black, it is necessary to use an iron after bath.

At this time, all Pure Tinctoria dyes are in the process of receiving Global Organic Textile Standard certification. We will update as each dye is officially approved. Oak Gall has been certified organic as has Annatto, Madder, Cutch, and Myrobalan.

Sold in 25 g packages.

25 g of extract will dye approximately 1 pound of fiber.

Image from Biodiversity Database

Image of Oak Apples ©Rasbak

Natural Dyeing Resources

Using Pure Tinctoria Dyes Download (pdf)