Osage as a fletching dye

[Dan Landis]

Some time back there was a thread about using osage leaves, bark, and wood as a dye to color things.  I mentioned then that I would have to give it a try sometime.  Well, I finally got around to it.  The first 2 pics shows a natural barred turkey feather after soaking in osage wood chips from a chain saw.  I used 3 cups of wood chips, 1 cup of boiling water, and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and left it soak for about an hour.  The next 2 pics show a completed black walnut arrow with a fletch dyed with a mixture of fresh cut leaves, twigs, and a cup of wood chips.  This batch had about the same amount of water and vinegar and soaked for the same time.
 







As you can see the wood chips turned out much darker, I don't think the leaves and twigs would have done much at all without the wood chips.  i wanted to try some bark from a green tree, but do not have any available at this time.  I'm thinking the bark and sap wood would turn out a darker yellow, maybe even orange, just guessing.....Dan

[KellyG]

well now that is very cool

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Osage is a great source for making dye. A buddy of mine has a wool blanket that is dyed in osage and it is awsome. The wool blanket get's darker all the time the same as a bow that is exposed to light. I suspect the feathers will do the same.

Looks cool and a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

Stiks

[DVSHUNTER]

I have used the water left in my steaming pot to dye things and it works great. I never noticed the sun factor on dye, just wood, but that is awesome to knoe. Thanks for sharing.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I dyed some cedar shafts with osage water left after steaming and it made them a real nice yellow color. I haven't set them outside in the sun to see if they would turn orange, but I might do that now and see what happens?

[Dan Landis]

I'll put the feather in the first pic in the sun for a few days and then take another pic to see how much it changes......Dan

[adeeden]

I wonder if you would get a brighter color from the roots?