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).
Here's a link to a web site with a good picture of some woolen skeins dyed
using materials available in pre-modern Europe: Dark
Age Colours. Some of the greens possible aren't included, but those
would be acheived by overdyeing weld with woad. More information
on dyes and dyeing can be found at: Natural
Dyes Mailing List.
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.
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.
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 |
Copyright Notice:
The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Clothing of the Ancient Celts /Dyes- Copyright 1997, M. E. Riley