T Stands for Tuesday and Black Walnuts

   Hi Everyone, Wow It's November-where did October go? I would love a re do of October. 😃  It's also time for T with friends, just share a drink related photo and join us at Bleubeard and Elizabeth-link in my side bar

   If you missed my post on black walnuts a few days ago,  here is the link  I did start the recipe for the salve over the weekend. Infused the black walnut hulls in olive oil and coconut oil for 2 hours and now it is sitting for a week before I will strain it and make the salve. I need to dig out the ingredients for that, I am pretty sure I have the clove essential oil.

  I also went through the nuts from 2 years ago and saved up two small boxes of the dried hulls that I could get off the nut-and then put the nuts out for the squirrels. I had dried them on the nut per the suggestion from my dye teacher at Fiber U one year. I think I prefer the hulls off-seems like I would get more of the dye for the ink which is inside next to the nut.

  I decided from this year's crop (which is huge) to take the hulls off of a bunch of the nuts and dry those along with some of the nuts. and I also left a few with the hulls on.  last time I just threw them in the box and tried to remember to stir them up a bit-some were a bit moldy from neglect. This time I laid out cardboard and papers for them to dry on. Ideally this would be nicer on racks but I don't have any racks for craft use

Photo below shows the nuts drying and I forgot how wet they are I chose the largest ones to later crack and see what's inside I needed to change the papers on the nuts

For the slave recipe, this was to infuse in warm water on the stove-but no bubbles are to appear or would be too hot

  I am determined to make ink. I appreciate those of you that commented on the other black walnut post. One friend said that she never boiled her hulls just let them soak in water. I have read allot of different posts online and there are so many similiar but different ways to make this ink. I like the suggestion of grinding up the dried hulls and then whirling them up in a craft blender. The article I read then used three layers of nylon stockings to hold the fine powder-do they even sell those anymore??  Thinking about this method more I don't think I want to mess with a find powder, but will simmer the hulls instead, strain and reduce further.  I will need a couple warm days though to do this outdoors over a fire-not a good idea to do this in the house.

  I did remember last night that I had picked up a book before we moved to the lake.  The Organic Artist by Nick Neddo. It is about making your own art supplies. inks-even from acorns and berries, your own paints, crayons, brushes and much more His recipe for the black walnut ink was simmering the hulls in a slow cooker-I still don't like the idea of having the strong odor in the house. He also suggests adding hide glue-which is the original recipe from many years ago as a binder. His book even has a recipe for that. Or he suggest plain gelatin.  There is pokeberries here at the lake house, so I may just play with pokeberrry ink next year fall. Never thought of that.

  I am also thinking that this ink will not be lightfast or permanent, not sure if the binder will help with that-anyone know?

  This is really a very interesting book to just read and be informed or to make some of these items. 

Monday morning's sunrise

I am still too congested in the mornings, more so than usual during the changing of the seasons. So I am still drinking a cup of healing herb tea but have added marshmallow root with the mullein. I bought a couple boxes of tea bags as the bulk organic marshmallow root is pretty expensive. I should look into growing that.

and then mid morning I have been brewing up my decaf coffee in the French Press and some  mornings just need a little cream haha I haven't used this little handmade cup in awhile. I have a set of four with saucers. Made by one of our pottery friends before we retired.

Happy T and Happy November everyone

Black Walnuts For a Healing Salve or Ink and Dye

   Those of you that have black walnuts nearby, do you use them?

Growing up we had a huge huge black walnut tree that produced an abundance of nuts every two years. My Mom had us take the skins off (with gloves), we dried the nuts and then we cracked them in the basement. Dad had a big log stump and little table that we sat at down in the basement and we all took turns cracking the nuts. These are allot of work because the shells have so many cavities that you don't get a half a nut whole like in many other nuts.  I always loved the different taste these nuts have too, very earthy and excellent in quick breads like pumpkin or banana breads.

  I still have not made the ink or the dye from my harvest two years ago-sigh Just not really set up for this kind of mess-really needs to be done outdoors. This year we have double the crop and the nuts are much larger too. These may contain some nice nuts inside I am thinking. My last harvest have very little nuts inside.

   I follow and have a couple of books from Jan the Nerdy Farm Wife, and every recipe I have made from her has always turned out so well. She sent us a recipe for Black Walnut Salve here is her photo

and depending on what oil you choose-you will get different colors of salve-the salve on the far left is from black walnut powder which one can purchase.

  This salve is used for rashes and she answered my question-"Will black walnut salve stain your skin?

No, once the hull has been infused into oil, it won’t stain your skin. (However, fresh black walnut hulls that have not been infused into oil will certainly stain!) "

  I have all of the ingredients in my "stash"  so I am wanting to make this recipe.

  It needs to warm up a bit outdoors though for me, or when the sun comes out and the wind dies down I can then go outdoors and work a bit.   I would like to separate the hulls from the nuts to see if there are nuts inside this year too.

 

Happy Friday everyone

Update: after Valerie's comment that she uses black walnut powder to make her ink-easier-I looked up how to make it

  I  found this site for information making ink or dye from scratch  One needs to dry the hulls and then blend in a craft blender (not a blender you use for food) to a powder. 

 

   Just found a good tutorial-making the black walnut powder-and boiling down to make ink  here  I need to dig out my notes from two years ago when I wanted to make ink-those if I remember right were not making the powder first before boiling down into ink or dye. This article says the more surface area the better for getting a deep color-which sounds right to me

  Valerie's sounded more instant- just mix. I did find on Amazon  

Tsukineko WIINK001 Walnut Ink Crystal where you just mix with water on how dark you want the ink. 

Anyone else buy the powder to make into ink?  What I found was pretty expensive and would still need to be boiled down for the ink

  

   Ok anyone interested in making some black walnut ink?   I am pretty sure this needs to be boiled outdoors do to the strong odor though This may be a good spring project

T Stands for Tuesday & I Blame it on My Artistic Friend

  Another Tuesday will soon be upon us-so it's time for T Stands for Tuesday. You are most welcome to join us with a drink related post-just share a photo of your beverage-and drop by our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth-link in my right hand column.

   Last week was a hot and very humid one as it still is today. We had another very long day in Springfield, Mo for Hubs follow up appointment-the surgeon was called in on an emergency so the appointment was about 2 hours later. What made it worse was that we got in earlier than we thought we would-light traffic plus I dropped off my car for oil change and safety inspection and that all went faster than expected.
   The news is that Hubs will have open heart valve replacement surgery-they will go in under his arm between rib bones instead of going through the front-which can not be done do to problems 20 years ago. This is a better long term surgery that will help better than the clip they first talked about.
    It is set for mid September, they have hospitality rooms in the hospital so we can stay overnite-as he needs 2 hours of testing the day before. So our spirits were lifted I think for knowing what is going to occur-finally-it's been a long time of visits and tests since mid March-way too long I think but it is what it is.

   All the parts have arrived for my washing machine so I will be back to the woods home on Wednesday-all paid for but they are putting in $1000.00 worth of parts and labor-crazy I think but in the end my repair insurance paid for itself now and will be working for the new future owners.

   At the lake house these past few days-we have had awesome full moon over the lake views-My digital camera did not capture all of the beauty but it was so breathtaking-views from the big window and off the deck.

and this morning a gorgeous sunrise

I am sooo enjoying these gorgeous views.  There is a huge boat race event next weekend and then soon Labor day weekend-and after that I think the lake will be very quiet.

The black walnuts have been falling-and when I see them I collect them to dry-leaving the skins on as my dye teacher says she does. This makes beautiful brown dyes and I want to try making ink.  This is just a start as the tree is loaded with nuts  I have these drying in the basement-hopefully the squirrels will not find them here.

  My friend Barbara and I inspire each other with ideas for our art and crafts She asked me if I knew anything about silk hankies-as she bought some, shared a video with me on how to make roving-that can either be spun into yarn or knitted or crocheted with out spinning.
   I had heard of these hankies but had not researched them out-wow after I saw a few videos-I gotta have some 😀  so It's all her fault haha

Here is a video that I found on an Etsy sellers store. I am so impressed with this of course I needed to order silk hankies to try this out-I may try spinning it or just weave it in saori style. I bought blues and greens and one with fall colors.

This is what I ordered-and they are not very expensive





from here


I have been cleaning up our leather jackets, hats etc. They have been stored in a huge trunk where they could not breath so they were in dire need of a good cleaning. I am about half way through now. I even looked up the right way to do this-so I needed to find the right wooden hangers, than acid free tissue paper, and also breathable garment bags-so the leathers do not touch- this photo is just half the pile of leather clothing  Some of this we hope to sell like our chaps when riding a motorcycle which never got worn.

and the ones done now stored the way they should be and in a closet finally so I am really happy with getting this project almost done.

For my shared beverage-I have not had a glass of wine in months so I opened a bottle last night to go with a Hallmark movie and popcorn. This is dry red wine-merlot.

I had fresh lemons in the frig. so I made up fresh lemonade-very nice for these hot days

Happy T Stands for Tuesday everyone.

Have Any of You Made Black Walnut Ink??

  This has been on my to do list for awhile. When we first moved here to the woods we had two black walnut trees close to the house.  I had gathered lots of nuts, but at the time did not save the husks for the dye or ink.  They quit producing soon after.
  Last year I bought a book on making your own artists brushes, inks, paints. It is packed away at the moment but in there was the black walnut ink.

  I noticed last time I was up at the lake-now that the trees are leafing out-I think most of the trees on our lake property are either black walnuts or hickory -hoping for black walnuts.

  I looked online and there are many diy's on how to make it.

Here is one  and here too   and another one that shows it also as a dye on fabric.     This is for sure a messy project and I would do this outdoors over a fire pit like the first link shows. Also be sure to wear good gloves as black walnut will stain your hands for a very long time.
     I found a huge feather-perfect for using with ink-that Hubs thinks is from a vulture.  Sounds like a fun project for sure

Here are a few photos I found on the web
   Some use the whole nut with the husk dried on to it-which is what my dye instructor last year July did, others take the husk off and dry it and then boil down.  I thought it was a good idea to add alcohol to the ink when finished to help preserve it.
 



The black walnut gives a lovely brown dye





I also found this photo tutorial here  and some additional information here