Carol Creech

Thanks!

Strips of paper dipped in the dye at various points.

Ink test swatches at various stages.

Finished T-shirt and cord after washing.

Finished tshirt and cord after washing - in different lighting.

Results! I rinsed the fiber and the color was a beautiful, medium brown. After washing and drying, it lightened a bit. I also reduced some of the dye to make ink and noted some swatches in my sketchbook. To prevent mold growth, I added about a tablespoon of alcohol to the ink. #blackwalnutink

Pot of simmering black walnut hulls, very dark dye.

Mesh laundry bag over bucket in prep for straining.

Fiber soaking in alum-mordant.

Fiber in dye pot.

The process! I simmered the green hulls for about 4 hours and left the mixture overnight, squishing the hulls with my spoon to extract as much dye as possible. I strained the dye into a bucket using a fine mesh laundry bag. I alum-mordanted my fiber and soaked it in the dye for 2 days. #blackwalnut

Bright full moon among trees and above a house.

That beautiful Harvest Moon is shining bright tonight! #harvestmoon #fullmoon 🌕

Nice!

Black walnuts have jugulone and also tannins. The tannins act as a mordant for protein fibers like wool or silk.

You could, I think. I have never tried it.

Thanks! I have made black walnut ink before (and may try that as well with this batch.) I am curious to see what different mordants may produce. I do love to experiment!

Bag of black walnuts, smashing stones and pot.

One smashed walnut.

Pot full of separated walnut hulls.

Pot of walnut hulls in water simmering outside.

Black walnut dye, in-progress! I gathered about 60 and took my smashing rocks to them, (easier to crack), discarded the nuts (our squirrels will be happy) and am simmering the hulls in about 1.25 gallons of water for about 5 hours and soak overnight. Figuring out what I will dye later! 🌱🎨

The dahlias at County Farm Park are still going strong! A little dry, but looking good. 🌱#dahlias #fallblossoms #countyfarmparka2

Rest in peace, Dr. Goodall.

Thank you for the great prompts!

All five pages of daily drawings (six per 11x14” page) for the SciArt September drawing challenge.

And that’s a wrap for SciArt September 2025! I love seeing all of the drawings together. Were they perfect? Nope. I am more fascinated by the process of each day, researching, deciding what to draw and keeping the momentum going. Congrats to all who could participate! 🎨🐡 #sciartseptember2025 #sciart

SciArt September, Day 30: Dream (shared future.) My dream of a shared future includes putting our beautiful planet first. Adaptations, balance, collaboration and diversity are all key components of this. 🐡🎨🌎 #earthfirst #dream #sciartseptember2025 #sciart

Ink drawing of simple plants, a lake and soil profile with hand written text.

SciArt September, Day 29: Foresight (shared future.) Climate change is a major issue affecting our shared future. Attention to environmental management in addition to our built environment can be help to mitigate its effects. 🐡🎨 #foresight #climatechange #sciartseptember2025 #sciart

Ink drawing of manoomin grains with hand written text.

SciArt September, Day 28: Harvest. Manoomin is the Anishinaabe and Ojibwe name for wild rice. This sacred grain is traditionally harvested using a canoe and knocking stick to bend the rice stalks over the canoe and collect the grains. 🐡🎨🌱#sciartseptember #manoomin #harvest

Ink drawing of the outline of the state of Michigan, with the four Great Lakes around it and hand written text.

SciArt September, Day 27: Bounded (people.) The state of Michigan, with its two peninsulas, is bounded by four of the five Great Lakes. It has the longest freshwater coastline in the U.S. at 3,288 miles. 🐡🎨 #sciartseptember2025 #bounded #michigan #freshwatercoastline #sciart

Ink drawing of a hedgehog mushroom with hand written text.

SciArt September, Day 26: Forage (people.) This is a hedgehog mushroom (Hydnum repandum.) It has spore-bearing structures in the form of spines, rather than gills. 🍄🎨🐡 #sciartseptember2025 #hedgehogmushroom #forage #spinesnotgills

Ink drawing of crocus blossom with stigmas and hand-written notes.

Sciart September, Day 25: Tireless. Saffron is the hand-harvested, red stigmas from the center of each crocus blossom. It must be picked right before or after sunrise, and harvest happens every other day for a short, 3-week period in late summer into early autumn. #saffron #tireless 🐡🎨🌱

Cool! I didn’t know that.

Very cool!!

Ink drawing of a series of hexagons as in a beehive with descriptive text.

SciArt September, Day 24: Numbered (people.) I was thinking of numbers in nature and chose to depict the humble hexagon. Such a satisfying shape and efficient! It’s 120 degree angles allow the to tile a plane without gaps or overlaps. 🐡🎨#sciartseptember2025 #sciart #hexagon #numbered

Ink drawing of plantain growing out of driveway edges with descriptive text.

SciArt September, Day 23: Scouting. Sidewalk botanizing! Scouting for plats in an urban ecosystem can be fun and enlightening. This is Broadleaf Plantain, which is very common in disturbed areas such as sidewalks and driveway edges. 🎨🌱🐡#sciartseptember2025 #sciart #broadleafplantain #botanizing

Ink drawing of interlocking spirals and a line of waves with descriptive text.

SciArt September, Day 22: Fellowship (people.) I chose to depict two of the common motifs that appears on Neolithic Trypillian pottery—spirals and waves. 🐡🎨#sciartseptember2025 #sciart #fellowship #spirals #waves #trypillian

My linocut with portrait of Kathleen Lonsdale in gradient of lavender at the bottom to indigo at the top. She looks like a serious woman with a big mop of curly hair, round glasses, in a floral shirt and blazer. To her left is her own first drawing of electron density projection calculated for hexachlorobenzene. In front of her in black is her own one crystal model of hexamethylbenzene (with spheres for atoms and bars to indicate bonds or for structure and a small tag).

Day 25 #SciArtSeptember prompt tireless: 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬 #histsci Kathleen Lonsdale DBE FRS (née Yardley, 1903-1971) who solved a longstanding #chemistry conundrum of the shape of benzene, here with her drawing of electron density for hexachlorobenzene (green) & model of hexamethylbenzene. Her husband said, 🧵

Ink drawing of a torch coral with long polyps, sitting on a reef rock.

SciArt September, Day 21: Reef. This is a beautiful Torch Coral (Euphyllia glabresceris.) It is a large-polyped stony coral found in the info-Pacific region. It has tubular tentacles with colorful tips. 🐡🎨🪸#sciartseptember2025 #torchcoral #reef #sciart

Ink sketch of the layers of glacial ice from snow to compacted snow to firn and finally glacial ice.

SciArt September, Day 20: Glacial. Glacial ice is not just a monolith. It is composed of layers that slowly transform over time through pressure and cold. The layer called firn is snow that has been compacted over a year without summer melting. 🐡🎨#sciartseptember2025 #sciart #glacial #firn

SciArt September, Day 19: Depths. This is a Barreleye fish, which is found in the Pacific Ocean around 2,000 ft down. It has a transparent head with two, glowing green eyes on the top of its head, which help it to spot drifting animals for food. 🎨🐡#barreleyefish #sciart #sciartseptember2025

Ink drawing of a Dotleaf Waterlily with lily pads, floating in a cenote.

SciArt September, Day 18: Cenote. The Dotleaf Waterlily thrives in the clear waters of cenotes, which are natural sinkholes in limestone regions, most famously Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. This beautiful flower is widely represented in Mayan art. 🐡🎨🌱 #sciartseptember2025 #dotleafwaterlily #cenote

SciArt September, Day 17: Trawl. This is a Brown Pelican. These birds will follow fishing trawlers and feed opportunistically. This puts them at risk for injury from fishing gear and can interfere with natural foraging habits. 🐡🎨#brownpelican #trawl #sciartseptember2025