http://lefiligree.blogspot.com/2009/10/traditional-lichen-dye-colors.html (http://lefiligree.blogspot.com/2009/10/traditional-lichen-dye-colors.html)
The first page doesn't say much. However, what the individual did was take common ingredients for dyestuffs, found in Europe during the middle ages, and use them to create some rather vivid colors, including violet! More fabulous information can be found at http://historicenterprises.biz/womens-c-100/fabrics-c-100_198/colors-c-100_198_200/ (http://historicenterprises.biz/womens-c-100/fabrics-c-100_198/colors-c-100_198_200/).
Thank-you for the links. I accessed the second one (from historicenterprises.biz), and liked the article about "MOTLEY" fabric. Very interesting!
Oh, those are wonderful! Haven't had time to see if they sell the dyes, themselves... but I will finish reading it all tomorrow. Thanks for sharing, Isabella! :)
Bumping because I found another one:
http://www.jennydean.co.uk/index.php/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-1/ (http://www.jennydean.co.uk/index.php/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-1/)
Her experiments were with dyestuff from the early medieval/Viking era in England - for the most part. Still, you can easily see a very wide range of colors including some very bright colors.
Thanks for sharing these! Absolutely gorgeous color options.
Yet another color wheel for the 16th Century this time:
www.renaissancedyeing.com/en/products/swatch-cards/ (http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/en/products/swatch-cards/)
So remember, don't let anyone bug you about what color you are wearing. Patterns are always what cause my eye to twitch anyway. ;)
The next time some one says "Black dye faded easily which is why black clothing was only for the rich" (or something similar), I'm just posting this:
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5300/5534571816_4888747cd3.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/9r58o1)does she know? (explored #8) (https://flic.kr/p/9r58o1) by devonteg (https://www.flickr.com/people/51760386@N04/), on Flickr
And seeing how long it takes until they figure out that there was such a thing as natural black wool....
Exactly ;D-I've been telling people that for ages!
For some reason people can't wrap their heads around the fact that most middle and lower classes dressed in wool, which was common and plentiful, and wool comes naturally in black. I imagine most of the common everyday work clothing was black, natural, or grey. Snowy white for special occasion aprons and chemises would be provided by bleached linen.
Natural black wool would have been color fast and-it would have been ideal for most garments, not just for the well to do.
Not to say they didn't dye things black in period-there are plenty of portraits showing black silk velvet. As far as I know, no silk worm has ever produced a naturally black silk; so I expect that would have been the 'upper class' usage.
Silks and linens would have been dyed for fashion purposes; but since they didn't have chemicals to fix the colors-they would have faded significantly with the first washing-and the artificially dyed black would have gone gray rather quickly. Repeated dying , I would think, would have been the only way to maintain a deep color if the fabric was washed at all.
Velvet wasn't always silk as well. You could use wool to make a velvet fabric - it wasn't common, of course. Actually, I think many velvets were some sort of linen mix.
I'm curious as to these same people who demand that black was only for the rich never got tar stains on their clothing.
A cool natural black dye method:
http://www.primitiveways.com/black_dye.html (http://www.primitiveways.com/black_dye.html)
Quote from: Rowen MacD on September 29, 2014, 04:19:40 PM
and wool comes naturally in black.
... I don't even know how that thought never occurred to me. YEARS of singing "ba ba black sheep" and it has NEVER occurred to me that they would make black wool- three bags full in fact! It never came into play with any of my (limited) costuming anyway so I'll use that as a consolation for my oversight.
Gypsy-I have seen sweaters knitted from natural black wool, and it still took me a while to connect black wool yarn to woolen 'cloth'.
Wool is woven into fabric all the time. Our modern minds just think 'white wool, dyed to whatever color' not black right off the sheep ^_^.
Actually, I don't think I've ever seen naturally black wool cloth-in modern times we just dye everything.
QuoteActually, I don't think I've ever seen naturally black wool cloth-in modern times we just dye everything.
I think that's part of the issue too, black yarn is not really the same color as black wool on (or off!) a sheep and that's what I'm most familiar with seeing. I'm sure most modern stuff is white dyed to black so they can get the same color as the unnatural stuff they mix in.
(http://cdn.ipernity.com/146/58/17/35725817.ec5125f1.500.jpg) (http://www.ipernity.com/doc/jubileel/35725817)
DSC05574 (http://www.ipernity.com/doc/jubileel/35725817) par Isabella (http://www.ipernity.com/home/jubileel), on ipernity
Pink and Green Flamingos! Late 15th C/early 16th C Italian. I saw this in person and those birds are very pink and green. The pink *might* have been true purple (Tyrian purple) at one point but it's faded slightly to a very hot pink.
At least now if someone tells me the Flamingo brother's shouldn't have flamingo's on their coats I can honestly say Flamingos were used as decorative items. Granted not to the extent that the PP and his first mate use them :)
As to the black dyes... apparently the ancient Celts used bog mire boiled in iron pots to create black dyes, and used alumina, which was basically raw urine at that point, as the mordant. Everyone had access to to those things... heheh