My aim was to try to use the limited instructions to see how close I could get to the colors the Egyptians had achieved and to see which fibers seemed to take up the dye best. Phoenician dye Shetland wool fleece and cormo wool roving Phoenician dye natural raw silk fabric and Tussah natural silk roving Phoenician dye Egyptian cotton top roving and natural cotton cheesecloth “Cherry-red” variation – Shetland wool fleece and cormo wool roving “Cherry-red” variation – silk fabric and Tussah silk roving Due #115 – Final result comparisons The raw silk fabric did produce a really nice almost copper color, which I could use in a future project and the wool (both the Shetland fleece and cormo roving) held color well. None of the options used for “cherry-red” really look cherry-red. Once again, the closest to the Phoenician dye color was the Shetland fleece and the cormo wool roving, although the silk fabric was quite close and any of the choices could be refined (I think) to look more purple. The results from recipe #115 were a bit more subtle and to me, not quite as exciting.

Put the wool in and boil it together with the substances until it appears to you to be good.” Below you see the earthern vessel, powdered alkanet, heliotrope (which I used dried), and the addition of krimnos (safflower) to the pot. On the fourth day, boil them, with the addition of water, until these float at the top…if you wish cherry-red then add krimnos soured with a little soap. Lay them in an earthern vessel and sprinkle them for 3 days with white vinegar. Take and combine heliotrope with alkanet.

Egyptian cotton top roving and natural cotton cheesecloth Shetland fleece and cormo wool roving Tussah raw silk roving and raw natural silk fabric Recipe 118 Final comparative resultsĮncouraged by the outcome for recipe #118, I moved on to recipe #115 with a focus on both Phoenician dye and cherry-red. I was encouraged and excited by the results. The closest to “gold color” is the shetland wool fleece and the cormo wool roving. As you can see below, the results for recipe produced some wonderful colors, all of which I will use at some point. Well….after about a week in the cold dye crock, I was excited to see which fibers looked like the “gold color” promised in recipe #118. All fibers were prepared by scouring, mordanting, (and a tannin bath for the cotton) using modern techniques. My goal was basic – I was interested in seeing how each of the fibers reacted and held the dye. Shetland wool fleece, cormo wool roving, natural cotton cheesecloth, Egyptian cotton top roving, natural raw silk fabric, and Tussah natural silk roving were chosen for the first round of this dye experimen. I chose fibers and fabrics that are more easily accessible to me (in my remote area of Minnesota, USA) and fibers and fabrics that I really wanted to use in nunofelting. Since this was an experiment, I decided to expand my repertoire and include some additional fabrics and fibers for each of the dye recipes. Dharma Trading Company provides an excellent description of nunofelting (for those of you who have never heard of it): “ In a nutshell: Nunofelting is the process of felting wool roving and/or wool yarns onto another fabric.” As a nunofelter, my favorite fibers to work with are natural cotton cheesecloth as a base and silk or wool roving. I have yet to decide exactly what I will make, but I do know that it will be nunofelted. Each dyer needs to complete and submit a final project using the dyes recipes we have chosen.

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