Southern Europe Dyes
Natural dyes can not be considered a gift, they always were very expensive, and sometimes – quite literally worth its weight in gold. Sources of dyes are plants, minerals, and even some representatives of the animal world (more accurately, insects). Vegetable dyes, people learned to get out of leaves, fruit, bark and even roots. The blue dye indigo has been known since antiquity, it was extracted from the leaves of tropical indigo plants, as well as woad (herbaceous plant, now used as a feed). To get the yellow color of yarn used saffron, safflower, sumac, turmeric (a spice curry), rhubarb, fustik and even onion peel. For dyeing fabrics and yarns in the red since ancient times used the roots of the madder. For the same purpose used mahogany and fernambuk. Attach yarn black and brown help acacia catechu, oak bark, husk acorns and walnuts, and tea.
Vintage orange dye – Henna. But in order to get the green, indigo used in conjunction with various types of yellow dyes. Bright red carmine (cochineal), extracted from the wingless female cochineal – this insect, common in and Mexico, as well as Kermes (kermesovogo scale insects), living in the Mediterranean. Kermes is mostly used up to 16 centuries, then changed its cheaper cochineal. No less frequently used and mineral pigments – such as protection (yellow, brown, red), lime (white), cinnabar and minium (red), azurite and lapis lazuli (blue) and malachite (green). Same natural dye can produce different shades depending on the yarn, which they paint, peculiarities of local waters, and used in the painting process additional reagents, including fixing.