Ingrid, I can't help you a bit, but am wondering if there aren't some other lists for where you might get some help. I will forward to my Croft list (they do a lot of spinning and weaving and dyeing.) Maybe someone there will know, or know of a group which will know.
Sg ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ingrid G. Storrø" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Isabel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 2:25 PM Subject: [h-cost] Dyeing pots 350-575 AD? Hi, all! I have a question that's tangentially relevant to natural dyeing of textiles in the period from 350-575 AD. I know there are many consummate dyers on the list, so maybe somebody here will know! A friend of mine is writing her Master's thesis on ceramic vessels in Norway in the period mentioned, and she has a theory that some of them may have been used to dye small amounts of thread or other textile matter. Specifically for this she's looking at bucket-shaped pottery, probably earthenware burned at temperatures between 650-800 degrees Celsius. An illustration can be found here, it's the one at the bottom right: http://www.ub.uib.no/asp/elpub.asp?PublName=Vestlandske&aar=1&?sp=1&ep=177&pn=119 These vessel are fairly heat resistant as they are tempered with asbestos or soap-stone material. This means they will dispach heat evenly to the content over a long period after being heated. So here's the rub: these vessels, like most ceramics found from the period, are usually fairly small. Apparently cooking pots normally held between 4-8 litres. These bucket-shaped ones in her material range from 0.8 litres to 17 litres, with an average of 1.5 litres. To me this sounds like most of them are too small to dye much in - but then I've never really done much yarn dyeing. So, to the point of my long and winding question: does anybody have any thoughts about or, even better, references to any of the following: - Would these vessels be too small to dye in, or is it likely that they could have been used because larger vessels just weren't that normal? - Any books or serious websites that go into techniques and materials used for dyeing specifically for this period? - There are examples from the period of textiles that would have been yarn dyed, for example the tablet-woven bands from Evebø, Høgom and Snartemo finds. At Snartemo the bands are woven from horsehair (tail hair) which was dyed yellow, white (probably undyed?), red and blue. What dyestuffs would have been used? I would guess weld, madder or kermes, and woad. Does that sound likely? The reason why I ask is that these are all dyestuffs that would require some sort of heating in a Scandinavian climate, which might rule out wooden vessels for dyeing. I suppose you could set a woad fermentation vat without any additional heat, but it might be difficult to get it to work properly. So I guess the question would actually be: does anybody know of dyestuffs that would give these colours _without_ the addition of heat? Um, I think that's all I can think of right now. It's potentially a huge, complex question, I know, but if anybody could point me to any sources or share their own experiences I'd be grateful. :) Ingrid -- This email has been scanned for viruses & spam by Domenebutikken - www.domenebutikken.no Denne e-posten er sjekket for virus & spam av Domenebutikken - www.domenebutikken.no _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
