natural dyes are muted...NOT! [was something about kilts]
Gwennis Mooncat
in a previous article about kilts, it was mentioned that natural dye colors
were all muted! and not bright like modern materials. this is erroneous!
natural colors can be quite bright! in fact, fermented lichen can be
screaming fushia. and lichen dyes were used in the highlands until early
this century.
now, many natural dyes do fade over time, but not all. many stay extremely
bright. a plaid woven of yarns dyed with onion skins, madder/lady's
bedstraw, lichen, and woad would shine like a beacon.
i think the so-called muted tartans sold to "look like natural dyes" are
hype! don't be fooled! check with your local fiber enthusiasts, some of them
surely will have samples to show you.
gwennis, natural dye maven
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mistress gwynydd ni gelligaer, ol, called gwennis
tarkhanum, khanate basking lizard, great darke horde
shire of tirnewydd, barony middle marches, midrealm, aka columbus, oh
member #34497, society for creative anachronism .sigfile v. 1.03
email: gwe...@infinet.com since the info was requested...8-)
TRISTAN CLAIR DE LUNE/KEN MONDSCHEIN
The Unicorn tapestries at the Cloisters collection in Fort Tyron park
(in the north end of Manhattan) have beautiful, vivid colors. They were done,
BTW, half a milennia ago in 1500. Besides being a beautiful
medieval/renaissance allegory, they're also excellent sources for a variety of
information on Renaissance life.
Ironically enough, the artifical dyes that the 19th century restoration
used have since faded and look quite ugly.
The Cloisters is itself wonderful. It's a bunch of Medieval buildings
patisched together. They even have a medieval herb garden. It's a division
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the guys with the great armor collection,
where I hope to work this summer...).
--Tristan
Phyllis Gilmore
(TRISTAN CLAIR DE LUNE/KEN MONDSCHEIN) wrote:
> The Unicorn tapestries at the Cloisters collection in Fort Tyron park
>(in the north end of Manhattan) have beautiful, vivid colors. They were done,
>BTW, half a milennia ago in 1500. Besides being a beautiful
>medieval/renaissance allegory, they're also excellent sources for a variety of
>information on Renaissance life.
> Ironically enough, the artifical dyes that the 19th century restoration
>used have since faded and look quite ugly.
> The Cloisters is itself wonderful. It's a bunch of Medieval buildings
>patisched together. They even have a medieval herb garden. It's a division
>of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the guys with the great armor collection,
>where I hope to work this summer...).
>
I'd like to add to Tristan's comments by adding both the tapestries in
Paris' Cluny Museum and those at Hearst's (infamously overdecorated)
Castle here in California. The colors are indeed rich, even with the
passage of several centuries and, in the case of Cluny's unicorn series,
serious damage that's been repaired about the bottom edges.
I found the tour guide's talk in the billiards room at Hearst Castle
particularly enlightening. The tapestries hung in that room are
colorful and have not faded (at least not in the time they've been
in place). The felt covers of the pool tables, which had been replaced
within the five years previous to my visit (in the '70s) and dyed with
the best modern stuff, had faded appreciably--which the guide
demonstrated simply by moving the racked pool balls over. The tapestries
and the pool tables were subject to essentially the same lighting.
It's apparent to me that the tapestries are a better guide to the
possible colors, tones, etc. of *fabric* than the behavior of modern
dyed fabrics with time.
By the by, I read in a book on kilts that the "ancient" colors had
been "extrapolated" from some very old plaid fabric that had been dug
up out of a bog and was supposed to be quite old. Apparently the
sett matched that of some modern tartan or another and it was therefore
assumed that it *was* the same tartan, etc., etc. etc.
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SCA: Philippa de Ecosse, Lyondemere, Caid
mka: Phyllis Gilmore, Santa Monica and Torrance, CA
My opinions are my own, unless donated. All contributions welcome.