Many of the "tried and true" formulas that were recorded in the 18th and 19th century have turned out to be very difficult to reproduce. Bright scarlet red from madder root, for instance, was considered a given result yet today we can't do it. All shades of orange and brown, but the famous "Turkey red" of 18th century calico prints was created with madder. Synthetic alizarin had not yet been created, and the other true reds from cochineal or lac are insect derived and very costly.
Dyers' guilds kept their formulas carefully guarded, of course, because good ones were worth a fortune. I suspect that written directions often omitted small but crucial steps or details. This may have been intentional, or may have been a result of elements such as temperature or minerals in the water used, of which the writer was simply unaware.
Navajo weavers used to get a bright green from certain plants, and European-Americans failed to duplicate it until they realized that the buckets the Navajo used to prepare their dye solutions had copper and tin in them in much higher proportions than later manufactured buckets or pans would. (And in fact most modern dyers use enameled or porcelain clad vessels to avoid such contamination.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-09-13 02:49 pm (UTC)Many of the "tried and true" formulas that were recorded in the 18th and 19th century have turned out to be very difficult to reproduce. Bright scarlet red from madder root, for instance, was considered a given result yet today we can't do it. All shades of orange and brown, but the famous "Turkey red" of 18th century calico prints was created with madder. Synthetic alizarin had not yet been created, and the other true reds from cochineal or lac are insect derived and very costly.
Dyers' guilds kept their formulas carefully guarded, of course, because good ones were worth a fortune. I suspect that written directions often omitted small but crucial steps or details. This may have been intentional, or may have been a result of elements such as temperature or minerals in the water used, of which the writer was simply unaware.
Navajo weavers used to get a bright green from certain plants, and European-Americans failed to duplicate it until they realized that the buckets the Navajo used to prepare their dye solutions had copper and tin in them in much higher proportions than later manufactured buckets or pans would. (And in fact most modern dyers use enameled or porcelain clad vessels to avoid such contamination.)