(February, 2012)
by www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
The range of colors used for producing expensive clothes were produced by complicated dyeing processes. Expensive fabrics were imported from abroad. The dyes used for coloring these clothes were expensive. The red dye used to produce deep crimson or bright scarlet came from a insect found in the areas of the Mediterranean. The brightest or darkest colours were more expensive to produce and therefore limited to higher status clothing. The color and its brightness helped determine the dye's value. The lower classes wore colors of yellow, russet (a reddish brown color), orange, green, pale blue and pink. The production of dyes was a time consuming and often unpleasant process. The demand for dyes increased and in 1472 King Edward IV had incorporated the Dyers' Company of London. By the early 1500's France, Holland and Germany had begun the cultivation of dye plants as an industry - contributing to the 'unnecessary foreign wares' being imported to England and a reason for the Sumptuary Law of Queen Elizabeth 1.
Cheap Dye used for coloring cloth during the Elizabethan Era
All of the dye used for coloring fabrics in the Elizabethan era were produced from natural sources. The four major cheap dyes used for coloring cloth during the Elizabethan era were called woad, madder, lichen and weld.
Production of Cheap Dye
Additional colors appropriate for peasant and merchant class
To produce varying colors the fabric was heated with the dye. Other elements were added to the dyes to produce a variety of different colors. These included wine, salts, shells, mosses, sheep urine, lentils, fungus, vinegar, wild cucumber, walnut, oak galls, insects, iron oxide (rust), barley malt, plants, barks, roots, berries and flowers. Many dyes, such as woad, were produced by being composted with manure. The smell was revolting!
Expensive Dyes used for coloring cloth during the Elizabethan Era
All of the dyes used for coloring fabrics in the Elizabethan era were produced from natural sources. Some of the mordants were non-organic like copper salts, iron oxide, and sulphates. But the expensive dye had to be imported, at great cost, from abroad.
- These expensive dyes included:
References Elizabethan Era A comprehensive site on the history of England in the Elizabethan Era including clothing, food, music, and sports.
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