In early Ireland, dyeing was considered to be a somewhat magical process, and was strictly a women’s craft, there being a taboo on dyeing fabric in the presence of men. The book of Lismore contains a passage in which St. Ciaran’s mother tells him to go out of the house, since it is unlucky to have men in the house while dyeing cloth. He curses the cloth so that it dyes unevenly, then later recants. There were also rules about which days of the month or week were proper for dyeing — the information not recorded in this source). (Bríd Mahon,Traditional Dyestuffs in Ireland, p. 116). Dyers also had a reputation for being herbal healers, since many dyestuffs were also used in folk medicine. (Mahon, p. 122)
Many Highland dye recipes involve steeping the wool for as long as several days or even weeks in order to achieve the proper depth of color and degree of fastness. This is sometimes attributed to the harsher quality of Highland wool. (Kok, p. 224)
Linen is particularly hard to dye; however, indigin (as contained in woad, and, later, in imported indigo dye) and the purple from Murex snails do dye linen, as they adhere to the surface of the fiber rather than penetrating the fiber as most other dyes do.
The word for dyestuffs in the Book of Leinster is ‘ruaman’; the root word is ‘ruam’ or red — which reinforces the idea that the Celts loved bright colors and wore them as much as possible (Joyce, vol. 2, p. 357). More information on dyes and dyeing can be found at: Natural Dyes Mailing List.
— A link to 14th c. German dye recipes — shows what was being done elsewhere in medieval Europe
— Color in Lowerclass Elizabethan Clothing — shows what was being done elsewhere in the British Isles
— To make a Beautiful Colour — Period Dyes in the 16th Century
A Note on ‘Saffron’
The term ‘saffron’, as used to describe Irish and Scottish leinte, is used to describe the color of the linen. The color is actually derived from weld, a plant that yields a light, clear yellow:
The truth is that the old English saffron does not mean crocus but any yellow colour, and generally distinguishes the weld, still retained in many parts of England and the very plant the Irish call Buídhe Mór, or Great Yellow. With this they dye their linen and fine woolen stuffs with different degrees of colour and fix the colour with urine. The yellow thus obtained is bright and lasting. (J. C. Walker, Materials used by the Ancient Irish, quoted in Brid Mahon, p. 118-119)
Other materials used to obtain a saffron-yellow include poplar bark and leaves, heather, Meadowsweet (Airgead Luachra; produces a pale yellow), sorrel, gorse blossoms, onion skins, a species of lichen (called Féasóg Ghabair or Dath na gCloch) and Mare’s Tail (Cáiti Collagan). (Mahon, p. 119)
In a recent workshop on natural dyes, we got a yellow very similar to that yielded by weld using the leaves of the sweetgum tree, using alum as a mordant. The workshop was held in mid-May; I don’t know if the results would be different using leaves gathered later in the year.
Mordants
A mordant (from a French word meaning ‘to bite’) is a substance applied to fibers before dyeing which helps the dye adhere to the fibers. The type of mordant used will usually affect the end color of the fabric. Mordants used in Ireland and Scotland included:
- Alum (potassium aluminum sulphate from stale urine, wood ash, oak galls; chips of oak or alder wood; burnt seaweed or kelp) — ‘brightens’ the color. Stale urine is called fual, or graith in Scotland. Probably used from the earliest times.
- Iron (or copperas – ferrous sulphate) – ‘saddens’ colors (makes them grayer). Iron could be obtained from certain bogs or iron ore.
- Copper (or verdigris – copper sulphate)
- Fir-club moss (Lycopodium selago), used in place of alum.
- Oak-galls were sometimes used to dull the colour.
- Elecampane (Inula helenium) was sometimes used as a mordant for dyeing with blaeberries. (Kok, p. 225)
Dyestuffs
Animal Dyes: Kermes (an insect related to Cochineal); Murex snail (Murex; Purpura lapillus — known in Ireland in 7th c. CE, possibly earlier) (Mahon, pp.116-117)
Vegetable Dyes: The roots, leaves, flowers, or bark of plants; different parts of the plant sometimes yield different colors.
Lichens: usually require no mordant, as they are very ‘fast’ (permanent) dyes. They were usually gathered in July and August, dried in the sun, and used without mordants to dye wool in an iron dyepot. The lichens were fermented with fual (stale urine) for as long as three weeks over low heat. Ammonia can be used for modern dyeing instead. Dyeing time might be up to four hours, or even longer for deeper, more color-fast dyes.
— Article on Orchil Dye
List of Native Irish and Scottish Dyes
Some of these dyestuffs are listed several times; this might indicate some confusion on the part of the person gathering the information; but some plants can be used to obtain different colors, using different dyeing techniques and mordants.
The lower classes were most likely to wear saffron and black. Trews and cloaks were also frequently dyed black. (Mahon, p. 121)
In Uibh Ráthach, Contae Chiarra they never let children wear white underclothes lest they be swept away by the puca and as a safeguard they picked sceochan na gcloch, to dye the garment a yellowish brown. (Mahon, p. 122)
George Buchanan, in his History of Scotland (1580), writes that the favorite colors of Highlanders were blue and purple. The blue was most likely obtained using woad (Isatis tinctoria), which contains the dye indigotin. In later periods, blue indigo dye was imported from India, where it is derived from the indigo plant. It is easier to get indigin out of the indigo plant than it is from woad, since indigo contains a higher level of indigin pigment than woad does, so it takes less plant material to get the desired dye. The procedure for getting the indigotin out of the plant material (used either for woad or for indigo) is a lengthy and finicky process involving the fermentation of the plant material and several other steps too complex to go into here (see the link to The Woad Page for further information). Indigo dye, either synthetic or natural, can be obtained from several sources, including Earthguild,along with instructions for making an indigo dye vat using modern powdered chemicals rather than the traditional stale urine, lime water or wood ash lye from which these chemicals were originally derived.
Dye Material: | Mordant: | Latin Name: | Gaelic Name: |
Blue: (glas, gorm) | |||
Bilberry, Whortleberry | iron | Vaccinium myrtillus | Fraochán |
Devil’s Bit | leaves prepared like woad | Succisa praetensis, Scabiosa Succisa | Úrach bhallach; Greim an diabhail |
Elder (berries) | alum | Sambucus nigra | Trom |
Privet (berries, leaves) | alum & salt | Ligustrum vulgare | Tor luathfás |
Red Bearberry | Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Lus na stalóg | |
Sloe (Blackthorn) | Prunis spinosa | Draighean | |
Woad (leaves, fermented) | ammonia | satis tinctoria | Glaisín |
Wild (or Mountain) Pansy (leaves, stem) | Goirmín sléibhe | ||
Yellow Iris (roots) | iron | Iris pseudacorus | Feileastram |
Elecampane | Inula helenium |
Black: (dubh) | |||
Alder (bark with copperas) | Alnus glutinosa | Fearnóg | |
Blackberry (young shoots w/ salts of iron) | Rubus fruticosus | Smearna dubha Driseog | |
bog mire (mud), boiled in iron pot; described as very color-fast dull black; to make glossy black, add oak twigs or chips | alumina (from urine) | Dubh an Phortaigh; dubh-poill | |
Dock (roots) | Rumex obtusifolius | Copóg | |
Elder (bark) | copperas | Sambucus nigra | Trom |
various lichens | |||
Oak (bark and acorns) | Quercus petraea and robur | Dair | |
Yellow Iris (roots) | iris pseudacorus | Feileastram | |
Meadowsweet – whole plant | Filipendula ulmaria | Airgead luachra | |
Waterlily (roots) | Nymphea alba | ||
crotal (lichen) |
Brown: | |||
Alder | Alnus glutinosa | Fearnóg | |
Bilberry or Whortleberry | Vaccinium myrtillus | Fraochán | |
Birch | Betula pubescens | Beith | |
Bogbean | Menyanthes trifoliata | Bearnán lachan, Bóchrán | |
Briar/bramble roots | |||
Dulse (seaweed) | |||
Hops | humulus lupulus | Lus an leanna | |
Larch (needles collected in autumn) | |||
Lichens | iron (dyepot) | Crotal | |
Oak (bark) | Quercus petraea and robur | Dair | |
Onion (skins) | |||
Sloe (Blackthorn) | Prunis spinosa | Draighne·n Donn | |
Veronica – Speedwell | Veronica beccubunga | Lus na banaltra, Seamar chré | |
White waterlily (roots) | Nymphaea alba | Duilleog bháute |
Green: | |||
Bracken (crumpled buds of leaf fronds) | Pteridium aquilinum | Raithneach | |
Bedstraw (yellow), overdyed with Woad | |||
Dock Sorrel | Rumex acestosa | Samhadh bó | |
Elder | Sambucus nigra | Trom | |
Flowering Rush | Juncus sp. | Luachair Bogbhuinne | |
Foxglove | Digitalis purpurea | Méarcán na mban sí | |
Heath, boiled (dark green) | |||
Horsetail | Equisetum telemateia | Eireaball capaill | |
Lichens | |||
Nettles (dark green) | Urtica dioica | Neantóg | |
Privet (berries and leaves) | alum | Ligustrum vulgare | Tor luathfás |
Weld, overdyed with woad | ammonia | ||
Weld, mixed with sheep’s feces (dark green) | |||
Yellow Flag | seileastram or feileastram |
Pink: | |||
wild madder (root) | Rubia peregrina | ||
field madder (root) | Sherardia arvensis |
Crimson: | |||
Ladies Bedstraw | alum | Galium verum | rud; rú Mhuire, baladh cnise or bindean |
Cudbear lichen (Mahon, p. 117) | ammonia | Corcair; Sraith na gCloch |
Red: (ruadh) | |||
Alder | red | ruam (the dye); fearn, fearno/g (the plant) | |
Blackthorn | bright red; w/alum produces orange | Prunus spinosa | |
Kermes (insects; related to cochineal) | |||
Lichens and mosses | Sraith na gCloch | ||
Field madder (roots) | Sherardia arvensis | Baladh cnis Chon Chulainn, Dearg faille | |
Sorrel (root) | Rumex acetosa | ||
Meadowsweet (roots) | Filipendula ulmaria | ||
Tormentil (roots) | Potentilla erecta | Néaltartach, Beinidín | |
Wild madder (roots) | Rubia peregrina | Madar |
Purple: (corcur) | |||
Bilberry or Whortleberry | alum | Vaccinium myrtillus | Fraochán |
Cloudberry | Rubus europaeus | ||
Crotal Lichen (corcur dye) | fermentation w/ stale urine (fuar) | Ochrolechia tartarea; O. parella; Pertusaria dealbata; Aspicilia calcarea; Parmelia omphalodes; P. saxatilis; and others | corcra; crotal ban, crotal geal, white crotal, or scurf |
Crowberry | Empetrum nigrum | ||
Dandelion (roots dye magenta) | alum | Taraxacum officinale | Caisearbhán Caol dearg |
Danesweed (Dwarf Elder) | Sambucus ebulus | Lus na nDanar; Péith bhog | |
Deadly nightshade | Atropa belladonna | Miotóg bhuí; Lus mór coilleadh | |
Elder (berries) | alum | Sambucus nigra | Trom |
Murex (whelks — shellfish) | Murex or Purpura lapillus shellfish | This is the ‘royal purple’ or crimson used in Europe. Because it’s very expensive to produce, fabrics dyed with murex are very costly and are worn mostly by chiefs. | |
Orchil or Cudbear lichen | alum | Sraith na gCloch | |
Purple Loosestrife | Lythrum salicaria | Eireaball caitÌn; Créachtach | |
sea slugs | |||
Spindle | Euonymus europaeus | ||
St. John’s Wort (flower heads) | none | Hypericum perforatum | |
Sundew | Drosera rotundifolia | Drúichtín móna, Rós an tsolais |
Yellow: (buidhe) | most of these use an alum mordant. | ||
Agrimony | Agrimonia eupatoria | Airgeadéan, Méirín na máighe | |
Ash (fresh inner bark) | Fraxinus excelsior | Fuinseog | |
Birch | Betula pubescens; B. alba | Beith | |
Bog asphodel | Narthecium ossifragum | Bliocáin | |
Bog myrtle (or sweet gale) | Myrica gale | Raidóg, Railleog | |
Bracken (roots, young tops) | Pteridium aquilinum | Raithneach | |
Bramble | Rubus fruticosus | Driseog | |
Broom | Cytisus scoparius | Giolach | |
Buckthorn (berries and bark) | Rhamnus catharticus | Ramh Draighin, Maide bréan | |
Common dock (roots) | Rumex obtusifolius | Copóg | |
Crab apple (fresh inner bark) | Malus sylvestris | Úll fiain | |
Dogwood | Cornus sanguinea | Crann cornéil, Crann muchóra | |
Gorse (bark, flowers, young shoots) | Ulex europaeus | Aiteann | |
Heather | alum | Erica tetralix; E. vulgaris; Calluna vulgaris | Fraoch |
Kidney vetch | Anthyllis vulneraria | Meoir Mhuire, Cosán uain | |
Lichens (various) (brownish yellow) | Féasóg Ghabhair; others | ||
Marigold | Caltha palustris | ||
Marestail | Hippuris vulgaris | Snáithe báite, Cáiti collagan | |
Marsh marigold | Caltha palustris | Lus buí Bealtaine | |
Marsh ragwort | Senecio aquaticus | Buachalán buÌ | |
Marsh-woundwort | Stachys palustris | Duilleog na saor | |
Meadow Rue | Talictrum flavum | Riascbhláth órdha | |
Meadowsweet (light yellow) | Airgead Luachra | ||
Moss | |||
Nettle | alum | Urtica dioica | Neantóg |
Onion skins | |||
Pennywort | Umbilicus rupestris | Carnán caisil, Lus na pingine | |
Poplar bark, wood and leaves (saffron color) | ammonia (material soaks several days in ammonia) [Mahon, p. 118] | ||
Privet (leaves) | Ligustrum vulgare | Tor luathfás | |
Red shank | Polygonum persicaria | Gluineach dhearg | |
Saffron (probably introduced early 1400s)(Mahon, p. 118) | Crocus sativus | Cróch an fhómhair | |
Sorrel Sahmadh | Dath na gCloch | ||
St. John’s Wort | alum | Hypericum sp. | Luibh Eoin Bhaiste |
Sundew | Drosera rotundifolia | Drúichtín móna | |
Teasel | Dipsacus fullonum | Lus an fhúcadóra | |
Tormentil (roots) | Potentilla erecta | Néaltartach, Beinidín | |
Water pepper | Polygonum hydropiper | Glúineach | |
Weld (strong yellow) aka Dyer’s Weed | Reseda luteola | Buídhe mór, Ruachan buí | |
Yellow Fumitory | Corydalis lutea | Dearg thalún | |
Yellow Wort | Blackstonia perfoliata | Dréimire buí |
Originally posted here in 1997 until the site went down in 2003.