ANST - cochineal

[j'lynn yeates]

On 1 Jul 98, at 13:29, N.D. Wederstrandt wrote:

> Dropping by because I heard my name mentioned....

when in doubt, invoke ... 

> ...                        get something large and thin  (so you can scrape them
> off without touching the needles on the cactus)and scrape them off into a
> zip log bag.  If you squish any you see bright magenta red.  

from growing up taking care of stock in tejas, and dealing with way more 
prickly pear than i care to remember (neighbor can't understand why i don't 
want it planted on the boundary line ...), i'll make another recommendation 
... a good pair of leather gloves.

while you're at it, snag a few of the fleshy parts of the cactus ... de-spined, 
skinned, and properly prepared, quite tasty.
 
> After they are crispy dead, feel free to use them any way you want. 

would dehydration of the dead bugs ("killing jar" ... not to be confused with 
the "siouxsie (sioux) and the banshees" song of the same name ) preserve 
more of the active chemicals than using a oven?  i would assume that best 
way to use them would be to crush them to fine powder and boil with the 
fabric to be dyed ????  ... best mordant to use in this case with cottons? 
(what dictates which mordant is used and in what quantities ???)

'wolf
... always curious about new stuff


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