Dyeing Fly Tying Materials with Natural Dyes

Article by Steve Allen

I was directed down this rabbit hole by Dr. Paul Gaskell via his article published in the Spring 2025 issue of Fly Tyer Magazine. He documented the 19^th century British fly tyer and fisher, H.C. Cutcliffe. Dr. Gaskell detailed how he followed Cutcliffe’s methods of sourcing tying materials and dyeing them. H.C. Cutcliffe lived during the mid-1800s at which time you collected your tying materials from the sources at hand; barnyard animals, game birds, silk, and yarn. As most feathers and fur were of naturally occurring coloration the art of fabric dying was employed in the dying of fly-tying materials.

An earlier seed was planted when my wife and I visited Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee. There was a presentation of folklife at a hill farmstead. A woman was spinning wool and explained how she had dyed the wool for her sweater a light pink color with rock tripe.

After hurricane Helene there were so many old mature trees that had been blown over offering up the various lichens that thrive in the treetops and on the bark of the trees. I collected some old man’s beard lichen and decided to try dying some fur and feathers to see what would be the outcome.

A little research and a couple of used books from online sellers had me pointed in the right direction. I needed a hot plate, thermometer, various stainless-steel containers, utensils, and measuring devices to get started. Surprisingly I was able to source most of the hardware at the Salvation Army and various thrift stores. Old kitchen tools like strainers and mashers were inexpensive. Canning jars were plentiful and graduated for measuring liquids. I sourced most of the chemicals from home or the local pharmacy.

eBay provided some low-cost fur and feathers. Lots of deer hair was available and a whole white rabbit pelt. I also found India rooster and hen capes and a possum pelt that I could experiment with. I also included some white Peruvian wool.

In my travels through the history of fly fishing I found a few authors of note who provided detailed instructions on how to dye fur and feathers. In William Blacker’s book “The Art of Fly Making” there is a chapter titled “The Art of Dyeing Fishing Colors”. Fredric Halford in his book “Floating Flies and How to Dress Them” provides methods of dyeing as does H.C. Cutcliffe. These three authors provided interesting techniques employed in the 19^th century using materials available at the time. A.K. Best published a book ”Dyeing and Bleaching Natural Fly-Tying Materials” in 1993. In his book Best details dyeing and bleaching using modern liquid dyes, fabric softener for a mordant, and bleaching chemicals from hair salons.

As I researched, I was fascinated by the history of dyeing. As far back as 2000 BCA people were collecting small sea snails and extracting dye from a small gland that, when exposed to sunlight, would provide various shades of purple. This is how the color purple became known as the color of royalty, due to the cost of harvesting and processing thousands of snails for the dye. During the dark ages in northern Europe people made dyes in various shades of red/purple that were obtained for lichens. An ammonia water bath was used to extract the colors from the lichen, and the ammonia was obtained by urinating in a pot, mixing it with water and letting it ferment. From the medieval through renaissance period fabric dyeing was big business with families protecting their formulas under penalty of death. During the early industrial revolution in Northern Europe and the British Isles lichen dyes were big business with orcein, the common name for dye extracted from various lichens, and what become known as cudbear, a powder that was extracted from the orcein, being the common dyes. It became such a big business that lichens became endangered due to excessive harvesting.

In addition to lichen, many other plants provide dye. Turmeric provides various shades of yellow. Pokeberry dyes are a nice shade of red, black walnut hulls provide various shades of brown, logwood chips dye very dark brown to black, staghorn sumac provides tan and shades of gray. Cochineal, that comes from an insect that feeds on prickly pear cactus dyes a vibrant red, which was used by the British to dye their military “red coats”. Madder root also provides shades of red and orange.

To prepare the animal fur, plant-based fabrics, and feathers prior to dyeing, they must be treated in a mordant. Mordants are derived from alum, vinegar, ferrous sulphate (iron), cream of tartar, and other materials which are mixed with water, then the materials to be dyed are heated in the mordant which facilitates the absorption of the dye by the material. How much mordant is determined by how much material you want to dye.

The steps are relatively basic, mix the mordant in water, add the material to be dyed and heat for an hour or so. Mix the material from which the dye will be extracted with water and heat for about an hour and a half. In the case of lichen dyes, the lichen is mixed with an ammonia and water bath and left to set at room temperature for a few weeks. This process extracts the dye without heating.

Once the dye has been extracted from its source, the mordant is rinsed from the materials to be dyed and the materials are added to the dye liquor, then heated for an hour or so. Again, the amount of dye material is determined by the amount of material to be dyed. For example; sumac is ten parts berry weight to one part material to be dyed weight.

The heat must to be watched closely when dyeing animal fur and feather patches so the skin doesn’t “cook”, and in the case of thin-skinned fur patches like rabbit, the skin can disintegrate from too high a heat. I usually kept the temperature between 150 and 180 degrees. After removing and rinsing the fur and feather patches from the dye bath, if you rub in a few drops of glycerin into the hide, it will help keep it from shrinking and getting very stiff.

The instructions I found varied from one source to the next. Times can vary by a half hour or so, as do the actual methods of dying.

This is the results of old man’s beard lichen. The color is extracted using an ammonia and water bath.

This is the result of my first walnut dye. The walnuts were soaked with the outer rind removed in water for about three weeks. The walnuts and water were then heated for a couple of hours to extract the dye. The walnuts were collected from our walnut tree.

The second walnut dye. I soaked the whole walnuts in water for a month prior to extracting the dye.

The result of sumac in a water bath. The staghorn sumac was collected on our neighborhood roadside.

Pre bath materials and the sumac berries heating in water.

This is the same sumac process with the addition of an iron bath after the dyeing process. This adds a nice dark dun color to the materials.

The result of pokeberry. I sourced the pokeberry along a nearby roadside.

The result of turmeric.

This is the result of dye from madder root. Madder root has been used as a dye in the old world for millennia. Depending on the process various shares of red are possible.

I included two kinds of white Peruvian wool yarn in some of the dye baths. Top to bottom, left to right: sumac with a post iron bath, the next two are walnut, two turmeric and straight sumac for the tan, pokeberry twice, and the last color green is wool originally in the color blue that I dyed in turmeric to get the color green.

This was a very enjoyable project. I love the history of tenkara and western fly fishing as well as the history of fly tying. My research afforded me the opportunity to learn how natural dyes are extracted from common plants and the methods that were worked out over time to apply these dyes to plant derived fabrics and animal fur and feathers.

Below are some of the flies I tied using these materials.

---

Steve Allen is retired in Northeast Tennessee after a career in supply chain and retail outing goods management. In addition to fishing and fly tying he is an avid amateur radio operator, participates in shooting sports, and with his wife enjoys canoeing and kayaking, hiking, and gardening.

This article originally appeared in the 2026 print issue of Tenkara Angler magazine.

Do you have a story to tell? A photo to share? A fly recipe that’s too good to keep secret? If you would like to contribute content to Tenkara Angler, click HERE for more details.