Like gold, I never knew

oak galls and linen dyed in madder, rosemary, and nettles (a quick dip)

In a few weeks I will be taking another class in natural fabric dyeing. Though before class, I need to prepare my fabric for dyeing. This means hunting for oak galls. Oak galls are the round balls you see on oak trees that are made when wasps deposit their eggs inside an oak shoot. This foreign body stimulates the tree to grow plant tissue which ends up turning into a nut-like gall. The oak gall has a very high tannin content which makes them valuable to natural fabric dyers and ink makers. So, now my job is to find some trees (which I've already spotted), collect a basket full, smashed them into small pieces, and boil them in water to make a soak solution for my fabric. This is part of the mordanting process.

All new to me... I never knew the value of these little galls, I didn't even know their name. Now all of a sudden these little round nuggets have become like gold.