Showing posts with label amaranth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amaranth. Show all posts

Friday, 2 November 2018

Medieval plant dyes (and modern)


As long as you have red, yellow and blue you can mix and match to make almost any colour. Some of these dye plants are more resistant to fading in sunlight or getting washed out of the fibre than others.


Any plant name that is in bold is a perennial (or biennial).

Red - 
Medieval EuropeanMadder (Rubia tinctoria)Lady's Bedstraw/Cleavers (Galium verum)

Other
- Amaranth (Hopi red dye), Dyer's Alkanet, Henna (Lawsonia inermis) (shrub), Joe Pye Weed, Dyer's Woodruff (Asperula tinctoria), Brazilwood (tree)


Orange - 
Medieval European- any yellow + Madder, or just Madder itself

Other
Dyer's Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria), Orange Cosmos, Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldstrum') (edges into dull yellow)