Arras Heiress: Dyeing Natural Fibers with Natural Dyes

Friday, April 24, 2009

Dyeing Natural Fibers with Natural Dyes

INSIDE THE COCHENEAL POT ~ BEAUTIFUL!

ONION SKIN POT

GRINDING COCHENEAL (RED)

Jessica stirring the dye pot.

The final OUTCOME:

Swatches and threads of different fiber content, dyed with various natural items

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What is "Arras Heiress"?

Let me explain....

Like most Americans I have a checkered ancestral past! My mother's family was Welsh & American Indian, and my father's family was Belgian & German.

ARRAS is currently a region in France and founded by the Belgic tribe of the Atrebates, which is where my paternal family originated. The ownership of the town was, however, repeatedly disputed along with the rest of Artois for centuries. By the 14th century ARRAS had gained renown from the cloth and wool industry, and was especially well known for fine tapestries. ARRAS tapestries were coveted throughout Europe by the wealthy from about 1350 to 1460. In Shakespeare's "Hamlet", characters "hid behind the arras" to overhear secrets. In English and Italian the word "arras" (in Italian, "arrazzi") was adopted to refer to tapestries in general.

Though probably sanitized and manipulated, history seems to suggest that tapestry makers were male. In my heart and my soul, I know women surely were involved in many aspects of tapestry creation. Perhaps some of my female ancestors were among those women. I have no way of knowing this to be true but, my urge to fondle, enjoy, collect, and covet textiles had to come from somewhere, right?

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Friday, April 24, 2009

Dyeing Natural Fibers with Natural Dyes

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