Alkanet - the Mediterranean sometimes purple dye

 Everything I've been told and read about alkanet since I first heard of it is that it is tricky.  It might give you a purple, it might give you a blue.  It will probably give you a grayish color.  Maybe.  Even Jenny Dean had problems with it which did not give me much hope.  Still, I figured I'd play with it.  

First thing I did was use the sake I ended up not likely and mixed that with half the jug of powdered alkanet I got from Anne George's.  I put this slug into a tubberware container and just left it under the bathroom sink for a couple of weeks.  I might try cheap vodka next time to see if that affects the results at all.  

Then, I took it out and put the slug into the dye put.  I used some of Wildcraft dyeing's advice on PH levels as I wanted purple!  I added 75%~80% vinegar to the normal water and got a PH of 2...which was way too acidic.  I did get it to stay at 4.5~5.5 after adding some baking soda.   Yes, lots of fizziness when adjusting the PH level.  

Once the pot was hot but not boiling, I cleared out as much of the alkanet slug with the mesh colander as I could.  It didn't get it all out but it did get most of it.  Only after most of it was out did I add the fibers.

For this experiment, I did two skeins of wool, one of natural linen, and even a yard of silk taffeta.  The silk isn't in the picture since it really came out far too light.  I think if I try this again, I leave the silk in for a few days and see what happens.   

I used alum on all of them.  I have no idea why the top skein and the middle one, both wool, are two different colors.  Honestly, the top one is the color of my parent's car when I was a kid.  It wasn't brown and it wasn't purple.  It was something inbetween and we could never figure it out.  The middle one is straight up lavender.  It's hard to tell in this photo but it's very lavender in person.   The linen really didn't catch the dye but does have a very slight tone now to it.   

Anyone have any theories on why the two wools came out two different colors?  Maybe different sheep?  I did get the wools from two different companies...

The case of Paisley from a Medieval and Renaissance perspective

There is a lot of mythology around the paisley print. Some say it has ancient origins but came to the West in the 16th C. Others argue that it wasn't a thing in Europe until the 18th century. This is evident in multiple blog posts on the subject of paisleys.

Taken from Toast Magazine

I personally had been told the "no paisley in the medieval and Renaissance period" so many times, I figured it must be true.  Afterall, the closest thing I found for a while was this 17th century portrait which is just outside of the SCA period:

Taken from Tate

However, it looks like it's another "word" problem, similar to the word "pink".   Pink as a color existed in the SCA period but the word pink to *mean* the color did not.  The same seems to go for the word paisley.  

Paisley, in the SCA period, means the Scottish town which is just outside of Glasgow.  I've been to it and through it a few times.  It's a lovely manufacturing town which, as many sources suggest, is where the design paisley got it's name from when the weavers in the town Paisley started to turn out the design in the 18th century.   

Before that?  I'm not sure if there is an English name for it.  However, the design itself did exist in Europe well within the SCA period. Here is the evidence:

Taken from the Cleveland Museum

The above is a piece of silk lampas, manufactured in the second half of the 14th century...in Italy.  Those big green things below the heraldic dogs certainly look like paisleys to me!   To show it's not a one off, look above the back of the bird's head in this next 14th century piece.

Taken from the V&A Museum

It's also a fun one since it was made in Iran - where we know they did have paisley designs in the 14th and 15th centuries- but used in 14th century Germany for a dalmatic.  This also seems to be the more popular form of the paisley design as it shows up, again, in 14th Century Italy.

Taken from the V&A Museum

The more modernly common paisley shows up again in Italy in the 16th century.

Taken from the MET

As well as in 16th century Spain!

Taken from the MET

And one last late 14th century one that is Italian made, but found in France.

Taken from the V&A

Really, it looks like the paisley was fairly popular in 14th C Europe, though it is a part of other designs.  Hopefully, this will be helpful for anyone else trying to document the paisley into the later medieval period and up into the Renaissance era.   Now, I can safely say that even the design elements on my sari turned 1490's gown are period correct.  :-)