Short Paper on Natural Dyes

Sarah Stewart

TMA 468-R

Prof. Mary Farahnakian

14 March 2014

Natural Dyes

People have been dyeing clothing, paper, and skin for millennia. Until recently, all of these dyes were natural dyes, meaning they came from nature and are not synthetically created in a lab. Ancient peoples used their natural surroundings to color their clothing, paper and skin. The colors they used were at first those of their own environments, until trading routes like the Silk Road and trade triangle were established, which allowed people to obtain dyes and fabrics from all around the world. These dyes were made from plants, insects, mollusks, roots, bark, berries, fungi, and lichens, some of which are more colorfast and vibrant than others. The most valuable dyes of antiquity were cochineal, Tyrian purple, and crimson kermes.

Cochineal is a beetle found in the Americas that the indigenous peoples crushed to create a potent red dye. When the Spanish came to the Americas, they saw and adopted this process. They shipped boatloads of this dye back to Europe and traded it all over the world. It was and remains a very hot commodity because it is a very labor intensive, expensive process in which thousands of bugs and killed to create small amounts of dye. However, the dye is very potent and highly concentrated, so even a little of it goes a long way, adding to its value. This dye is still in avid use today; it is used as a food and cosmetic colorant because it is natural and nontoxic.

Tyrian purple is a purple and reddish purple dye probably first used by the Phoenicians around 1570 BC. This dye comes from predatory sea snails called murex, and can be extracted in two ways. The snails can be “milked” by consistently being poked so that they secrete the substances used in the dye, however, this process is particularly costly and time consuming. The other way to extract the dye is to remove the snail from its shell and crush it, however, this is clearly not sustainable, and once again takes many creatures to create a small amount of dye. This dye in antiquity was both expensive and beautiful, thus sumptuary laws were placed on it. In Byzantium, the dye could only be used for imperial silks. Adding to its value, the dye is color fast and supposedly brightens with weathering and time, so much so that when Alexander the Great conquered Susa, he discovered a 190 year old purple robe which would have been worth the equivalent of six million dollars in his day.

Kermes is a red dye from which the word crimson comes from. This dye also comes from living creatures called kermes, which are scale insects, though only the females are used to extract the dye from. These also are crushed by the thousands to create small amounts of dye, thus they dye was and remains expensive and labor-intensive. The dye was used in the known world as the red dye in sumptuous fabrics and paintings, but was more or less replaced when cochineal in the Americas was discovered because cochineal provided a richer and more potent color.

Crimson kermes, Tyrian purple, and cochineal were some of the most highly sought after luxury items of antiquity, and remain valuable and useful dyes. All three of them come from living organisms, which make them harder to harvest, more time consuming to create, and more valuable. To this day, these natural dyes are used as colorants and continue to bless the world with their vibrant hues.

Bibliography

Adrosko, Rita J. Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1971. Print. (The first half is and in-depth history on each color of dye, the second half contains dye recipes and procedures).

Bearfoot, Will. Mother Nature’s Dyes and Fibers. Willits: Oliver Press, 1975. Print. (Revealing unknown Native American dye skills, as well as the fibers used. History, description, pictures, and recipes for natural dyes used by the Native Americans).

Bliss, Anne. A Handbook of Dyes from Natural Material. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1981. Print. (History, tradition, techniques, tools, and specific dyers and their recipes).

Green, C. L. Natural Colourants and Dyestuffs A review of production, markets and development potential. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1995. Print. (Botanical and international information for colorant collection, growth, and trade. International trade information).

Kramer, Jack. Natural Dyes, Plants, and Processes. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972. (Pictures of plants, instructions on when to gather them, and recipes for natural dyes for yarns mostly).

Leechman, Douglas. Vegetable Dyes; From North American Plants. Toronto: The Webb Publishing Company, 1945. Print. (List of dye-plants, recipes, and colors they produce).

Lesch, Alma. Vegetable Dyeing 151 colors Recipes for Dyeing Yarns and Fabrics with Natural Materials. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications. 1970. Print. (Equipment, collection, preservation, directions of dyes and recipes, mostly for yarns).

Liles, J. N. The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990. Print. (Short history, directions, and dyes based on the colors they create with specific fabrics).

Robertson, Seonaid M. Dyes from Plants. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1973. Print. (A small description and picture of many plants and the mordants used with them for natural dye processes. Recipes and etymologies).

http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html (Timeline of Dye History)

http://rebeccamezoff.blogspot.com/2011/09/cochineal-there-is-bug-blood-in-your.html (Cochineal’s habitat and commercial uses)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple (Brief overview of Tyrian Purple)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermes_%28dye%29 (Overview of Kermes)