Of course there were all shades of blue, but i didn't think they were indigo.
Or perhaps is it that while the dye was called indigo, it was only common in
shades of blue because a blue hue is more a washed out version of true indigo
(which is more violet than blue)? Obviously the rich could afford to have the
fabric dyed repeatedly to reach those deep rich shades, but was out of the
price range for the commoners?
With natural dyes you can get different shades depending on the amount
of dye you use, the mordant you use, and of course, by adding portions
of some other color.
I don't know if indigo per se stinks, but it used to be common to use
urine in preparing the dye solution. When I was studying textile arts
some of the students were doing it and they said the process really
stank, also the fabric stank until well washed. They were doing, shall
we say, a roll-your-own process of obtaining the urine and storing it
till they had enough. Dharma Trading sells urea crystals. The advantage
of the crystals is that the strength of the chemical is more uniform
than when obtained from humans.
Fran
Lavolta Press
Books on historic clothing
www.lavoltapress.com
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