Dyestuff and colors from the world

Dyeing textiles means changing the color of a piece of fabric from its natural color to another. Even though many substances can stain something, only a few can bind with the fabric and give a bright, beautiful, and most of all stable color. Throughout history, dyers identified these substances and often went out of their way to obtain them, to be able to produce the best colors and of course be successful in their business.

Stability: in this case refers to a color that will not change with time, for example by oxidation or by coming in contact with other materials. But most of all, that could be washed without losing the color's intensity. This is still a key parameter in the production of today's dyes.

The provenience of dyestuff

When we think of the 18th century and before, we imagine a very local world, in which the movement of goods was limited to slow movements over land and sea, and, we also associate importing goods with very expensive products brought to Europe for the rich.
This dyer, seen the previous sections and the analysis of the documents served mostly the middle class and not on a big scale. Still, seeing what kind of dyestuff it used and where this was sourced gives us a good idea of how interconnected the world already was at the time.

Figure 1: Map tracing the main provenience of the most utilized dyestuffs described in the manuscript

This map only gives us an idea of the main dyestuffs and the general areas they originated from, if we where to also link the more local productions, and different production hubs for the same substance, toghether with the trade of raw first and dyed textile afterwards, the map would result unreadable.

They dyestuffs

What follows is an overview of the dyestuffs that are cited within the manuscript and were available for a relatively small 18th-century dyer from our geographic area.

The extraction of the dyestuff, except for the blues was done by soaking the dyestuff in hot water

Fernanbouk: also known as Brazilwood, which was harvested so intensively that now is a protected plant sort. It was used to dye reds and is one the most used dyestuff within the manuscript. It was considered of medium quality because of its stability. The dyestuff is in the wood of tree.

Madder: Sourced locally and from the Northern Netherlands, one of the oldest known dyestuffs. used since antiquity, one of the most stable red dyes. The dyestuff is contained in the roots of the plant.

Cochineal: An insect that grows on a species of cacti in central and northern parts of South America. One of the most expensive and best dyes available at the time.

Polish cochineal: another insect similar to the American one but growing on different sorts of plants and sourced in the east of Europe. Generally regarded as of lower quality than the American cochenille.

Sandalwood: From tropical India and Southeast Asia. was also used to dye soft red or pink, and was often mixed with other dyes.

Logwood: from Central America and the Caraibic area. Very popular dyestuff, used to dyer blue, purple and often combined with other dyestuff.

Indigo: (Indigofera tinctoria) Blue, imported since antiquity from India, contains the same dyestuff as Woad, the 'European indigo'. Was the main dyestuff for blue. still used today for example in the dyeing of denim. An extremely stable dyestuff.

Woad: (Isatis tinctoria), contains the same dyestuff as the previous plant. Grows in central and southern Europe. Local production remained important but the plant produces less dyestuff than the indian indigo.

Weld: Sourced from South and Central Europe. Another very stable and brilliant dye. the most used yellow dye. Was harvested in Central and South Europe as well as Turkey and the Levantine coast.

Turmeric: Sourced from India and the South of Asia. Utilized for oranges and yellows. Not the most stable dyestuff but extremely effective mixed with other dyestuffs.

Gallnuts: The most prominent source of tannins used in the manuscript. Result of insect attacks on plants. Which creates a round excrescence. Tannins are present in many varieties of plants and were extracted from many different sources. Tannins were used to dye browns and blacks.

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