Cochineal, Carmine, Spanish Red,
Grana, “In Grain”
Countess Olivia: ‘Tis in grain, sir;
'twill endure wind and weather’
-
Twelfth Night, Shakespeare
History
Cochineal
was used as a scarlet dye by the Aztecs for centuries before the arrival of
Europeans in the Americas. After
the arrival of the Conquistadors, the harvesting of the Spanish Red for export
to Europe began, early in the 16th century.
In
1575, 80 tonnes of cochineal was imported to Europe by the Spanish from the New
World (Finlay). Only found in
Central America, the government of Spain controlled the trade of cochineal. Italian dyers shunned cochineal in favor
of the already established dye kermes, made from the dried bodies of the female
shield louse or scale insect (Kermes ilicis) (Schetky). The use of kermes was first recorded in
1727 BCE and it was long the standard red dye for silk, wool and leather, but
the intense colorific value and relative cheapness of cochineal soon eliminated
most of the kermes use in England, so Spain hung on to control of their lucrative
monopoly. (Grierson)
A
carmine dye, cochineal is extracted from the female of a scale insect, the
cochineal (Dactylopius coccus),
which feeds on prickly pear cacti, which remained unknown to rest of Europe for
centuries.
Dyeing with Cochineal
Without
a mordant, the cochineal is a fugitive dye; however, with the addition of alum,
cochineal is both light and wash-fast (Maiwa). The addition of cream of tartar is said to make a redder
scarlet, however, I did not see this.
I
first ground up one ounce of cochineal with a mortar and pestle and put them in
an enameled pot. I covered the
ground cochineal with 3 inches of water and boiled it for 20 minutes. After I
strained out the pulp, I returned it to the pot and boiled it again. I repeated this step once more. This concentrate was then diluted at
the time of dyeing (1.5 L of water to 0.5L of dye concentrate).
I
used two alum mordants, one with 5mL of Al 2.5 L of water and the other with
5mL of alum and 2.5 mL of tannin in 2.5 L of water. I used the same amounts for the copperas mordants. The fabrics I dyed were cotton, linen,
silk, and wool.
The
cellulose fibres did not take up the dye well (cottons and linens). However, the protein fabrics (wool and
silk) dyed darkly and evenly.
Cochineal dye on alum mordanted linen, silk and wool
The 'black' is protein mordanted in iron
Sources
Finlay,
Victoria, 2002. Colour: Travels
through the paintbox. Hodder and Stoughton, London, UK.
Haigh,
J. 1800. Dyer’s Assistant
Liles,
J.N. 1990. Art Craft Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes Modern Use. University
of Tennessee Press.
Natural
dyeing. Maiwa Handprints Limited. www.maiwa.com
Dye
Recipe from the Stockholm Papyrus (for Kermes) 300-400 AD
Dye
Recipes from the Mappae Clavicula (for Kermes), 821-2 AD
Lee, Raymond L. (1951). "American cochineal in European
commerce, 1526-1625." Journal of Modern
History, 23 (3), 205-224.
Phipps, Elena and Nobuko
Shibayama (2010). Tracing
Cochineal Through the Collection of the Metropolitan
Museum Textile
Society of America Symposium
Proceedings Textile Society of America
Sandberg, Gosta (1996). The Red Dyes: Cochineal, Madder And Murex Purple: A World Tour of
Textile Techniques
Greenfield,
Amy Butler (2006), A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the
Color of Desire
Grierson, Su (1989)
. Dyeing and Dyestuffs.
Aylesbury, Bucks: Shire Album 229, Shire Publications Ltd. 1989.
Schetky, Ethel Jane McD. (1986), “The Ageless Art of Dyeing.”
Handbook on Dye Plants & Dyeing.
Brooklyn: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record. (Special reprint of “Plants
& Gardens” Vol. 20, No. 3)