BY LESLIE REGO
When I lived in Guatemala I collected many of the local plants and boiled them in a dye bath to see what color would be produced. Nine times out of 10 it was some kind of yellow, from pale to ocher to gold.
Dyes are thinner than pigments (colored powders). Dyes dissolve in liquid. With a mordant which, in Latin, means “biting,” the dye is fixed into the fabric. Pigments (paints) stay suspended in a binder traditionally made with glue, egg or oil. They do not dissolve. The paint thus resides on top of the painted surface, but dye gets its teeth into the fibers, entering into each filament.
The production of different yellow dyes will largely depend upon the season the plants are collected. Spring and early-summer cuttings will give creamier colors. Late-season cuttings, from the same plants, will dye a deep gold or brass. For example, mullein cut early in the summer contains very little dye but, if collected in the autumn, it will dye a bright yellow. The cut-up leaves of giant hyssop mint will dye from yellow to gold to dark gold depending on the mordant used and the time of year it is gathered. The leaves and stems of sagebrush, collected at any time of the year, will produce a yellow gold, if you can handle the noxious smell while it is boiling.
Throughout the Elizabethan age, commoners wore clothes dyed yellow. The color was easy to extract from a variety of plants and, thus, was cheap and plentiful. Extensive yardage could quickly be dyed and turned into garbs.
The most expensive yellow dye is extracted from the saffron crocus. There are only two or three stigmas to every flower and they must be removed by hand. It takes around 40,000 flowers to produce one pound. Alexander the Great allegedly used saffron to dye his locks! As expensive as the saffron dye was to produce, it was still less costly than gold and was thus painted on religious manuscripts during the Medieval period.
From the very poor to the extremely wealthy, yellow has been a sought-after commodity. I need only look outside my window to see the most brilliant yellow of them all on our lovely autumn leaves.
Leslie Rego is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, artist and Blaine County resident. To view more of Rego’s art, visit leslierego.com.