A friend of mine has asked if the below wool is an authentic colour for the Medieval - Wars of the Roses - period. Or would it have to be dyed further.
Thanks for your advice.

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that's not what one of our mutual suppliers saysIt does look rather like a colour I am sure I have seen on Dave Rushworths stall, hence it is probably authentic enough, seeing as mr Rushworth gets his wool dyed to match authentic colours.
If my memory serves me right, I saw a really lurid pink dyed with woad (something having clearly gone very wrong) in the hands of John Edmonds at COAM... about 13 years ago. He was giving the scrap of cloth away to an iron age reenactor at the time. I imagine there must be a note on it somewhere or other?ViscontesseD'Asbeau wrote: One thing intrigued me for years is look at yer average medieval painting you see loads of people in Barbie pink. Really vivid bright Barbie pink.
That one is easy, once you have squeezed the woad liquor out before fermenting, you boil the leaves and you get pink as a secondary dye. Its quite a pretty colour too. Dunno if we have any examples of it being used histroically that way or not- I suspect because most woad was couched (fermented in the leaf) it didnt happen and is a byproduct of more modern extraction methodsDeviantShrub wrote:If my memory serves me right, I saw a really lurid pink dyed with woad (something having clearly gone very wrong) in the hands of John Edmonds at COAM... about 13 years ago. He was giving the scrap of cloth away to an iron age reenactor at the time. I imagine there must be a note on it somewhere or other?ViscontesseD'Asbeau wrote: One thing intrigued me for years is look at yer average medieval painting you see loads of people in Barbie pink. Really vivid bright Barbie pink.
Be carful with planting wode. My wife put some in the front beds and changed her mind after it grew over 4 feet tall. She ripped it all out about 4 years back. And again about 2 years back. It can be a little persistant.ViscontesseD'Asbeau wrote:Best way to get woad is to grow it yourself. Which you can't plant til March-April, and won't get enough leaves til say mid summer.
I plant mine in the autumn sometimes, but must confess there is no woad only weeds in my plot at the momentColin Middleton wrote:Be carful with planting wode. My wife put some in the front beds and changed her mind after it grew over 4 feet tall. She ripped it all out about 4 years back. And again about 2 years back. It can be a little persistant.ViscontesseD'Asbeau wrote:Best way to get woad is to grow it yourself. Which you can't plant til March-April, and won't get enough leaves til say mid summer.
I also understand that it can be a bit smelly to work with.
Doesnt Stuart Peachey usually have some at the NLHF or am I imagining that?Wiblick wrote:I'd love to get my hands on some natural fleece fabric. Do you know of any suppliers?sally wrote:I'm often a bit torn, because on one hand as a dyer I know damn well we can have a huge range of colours, and yet I also feel we underrepresent good natural fleece shades. .