Oak galls, for making ink, tanning animal skin or dyeing textiles.

Use

Crushed galls work better than whole ones. An easy way to crush the galls is to wrap them well in a few layers of plastic (or some paper) and hammer them gently with a hammer.

Galls have been used for centuries to make black writing ink. This in combination with an iron compound and a substance that makes the ink somewhat thicker, such as gum arabic. Follow the recipe, the amount of galls is usually not very critical, more important is the amount of gum.

Tanning with oak galls is not very common, but has the same effect as tanning with oak bark: it makes the proteins in the leather insoluble and therefore the leather stronger and more durable. Also here: follow the recipe.

Wool, silk and some other substances can be dyed with oak galls, especially with a iron based mordant. When using only galls, gray tones will occur. In combination with, for example, logwood, wool can be dyed almost black. Use a good recipe.

Properties

Galls are thickenings of leaves and twigs that can arise for various reasons.

When they grow on oak, they absorb part of the tannins from the oak bark. These tannins consist mainly of tannic acid. Tannic acid forms a dark-colored compound with iron salts that is used in inks and paints.

Packaging

We pack galls in sealed plastic (LDPE) bags.

Dangers

As an unprocessed natural substance, it does not fall under the scope of the legislation on hazardous substances. However, we recommend that you also be careful with this and keep the galls out of the reach of children.

Codes

Item number: 32212