[Sca-cooks] cochaneal

[Hrolf Douglasson]

    imperial purple comes from sea snails (let them crawl on your fabric for
best results)
a double dye...woad over madder for a 'cheaper' (though not by much) purple
given the price of woad dyed stuff throughout the middle ages
cochaneal from the Americas.....an insect that is dried and ground
Kermes from(or via) the Russias gives a similar colour though not quite as
strong. This is also an insect.
Kemes dyed stuff has been found in my period (950+), Again would have been
expensive in northern europe.
Turkey red.....plant based and more scarlet in colour avaiable in the near
east(hence its name)
regards
vara