[Artemisia] Period Norman Garb- Black?

[Tamar Black Sea]

Thanks Your Majesty,

This helps me to get the desire for black fabric out of my system. I 
love black, but didn't see anything that looked like black fabric in 
illuminations and in the Bayeux Tapestry.

A few years ago, I was reading a book on traditional Scandinavian 
knitting. Many of the Norwegian items were dyed a beautiful shade of 
black and embellished with embroidery. The book mentioned that even into 
the 19th century, black dye was expensive and reserved for special 
items. However, textiles and dyes are absolutely not my area of 
expertise, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. :-)

YIS,
Tamar




TClayton wrote:
> I am not a textile Laurel, but a "Norman" Laurel, so I'll take a crack 
> at this...
>    Black was a relative term. To dye fabric "black" required an 
> enormous amount of pigment. In the period, browns, greens, blues, and 
> even purple pigments were used to achieve "black". Lamp black or black 
> wool are inherently black, but will not achieve a true "black" but a 
> rather charcoal grey. So, blacks were often just very dark colors 
> (think of  the "indigo" or "navy blue" pea coat. That would have been 
> considered "Black").  Unless those "textile-ophiles" out ther would 
> care to educate me further.. :)
>    This made "black" fabric possible (though I think it would have a 
> faint tint of color) but very expensive. And I doubt it would stay 
> black for long The Bayeux Tapestry cannot be scrutinized to closely 
> (it has green horses!), but it does give a representation of the types 
> of colors used. Men are shown wearing everything from Yellows, rusts, 
> reds and greens to dark blues, browns, and even  purples... but no  
> "true" black.
> -----Ralph, Rex Artemisia
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tamar Black Sea" 
> <tamar at coteduciel.org>
> To: "Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list" <artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 4:23 PM
> Subject: [Artemisia] Period Norman Garb- Black?
>
>
>> Greetings All,
>>
>> Now for a completely different question: Does anyone know if black 
>> was a color commonly in use for Norman clothing?
>>
>> The Norman period is not my time and place and I am pretty foggy 
>> about the dyes available at the time. I have been looking at the 
>> Regia Anglorum site for info on textiles and patterns, but I am still 
>> pretty vague about colors. Any suggestions?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any info or links.
>>
>> YIS,
>> Tamar
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