| How old is woad? | | | | the Mediterranean (Turkey and the Middle East). |
| Which of the following - ceramic pot, silk yarn, glass, | | | | Dyeing textiles blue |
| woad or wheel - has the oldest archaeological record? | | | | Linen and hemp, the main fibers available in Neolithic |
| The ceramic pot, or fired pottery, is the oldest, at 6,500 | | | | times, are not as easy to dye as wool. An added |
| BC. Surprisingly, woad comes second, long before the | | | | complication is that direct dyeing is a slow method that |
| wheel, silk or glass; mankind was storing woad seeds | | | | would have allowed only a limited amount of fibre to |
| in the Stone Age, possibly as early as 7,000 years | | | | be dyed. Colour, therefore, would have been used |
| ago. Fragments of blue-coloured linen or hemp found | | | | sparingly and mainly on the border of fabrics. Indeed |
| caught in an implement at a cave site in Adaouste in | | | | blue borders were found in some of the cloths used to |
| Southern France were dated to the Neolithic, while the | | | | wrap mummies in ancient Egypt at about 2,500 BC, |
| inhabitants of other Neolithic sites were storing woad | | | | though coloured borders were apparently not in |
| seeds. The other items on the list are all from the later | | | | common use until 300 BC. |
| Bronze Age, with the first wheel for transportation | | | | All the chemicals necessary for dyeing were readily |
| being invented around 3,200 BC in Egypt, the first silk | | | | available. Ammonia, in the form of stale urine, was |
| discovered about 2,700 BC in China and glass only | | | | often used for cleaning because soap was not |
| invented around 1,500 BC in Phoenicia. | | | | invented until the first century AD. Stale urine is alkaline, |
| If you have ever tried to extract woad pigment from | | | | and the bacteria living in it remove oxygen from the |
| woad leaves, you will be aware that it is a complex | | | | liquid. A bunch of woad leaves gathered near houses |
| process that requires an alkaline environment, the | | | | for direct dyeing, would sooner or later fall into a urine |
| correct temperature and the removal of oxygen. At | | | | barrel in the summer and the next fabric to be cleaned |
| first glance, it seems almost impossible that anybody | | | | in the barrel would come out pale blue. Anybody |
| would have come across this technique by chance. | | | | witnessing this would have been very impressed. |
| Despite its complexity, most cultures around the world | | | | With time, wool became available and a better |
| have independently discovered how to dye fibres blue | | | | process for dyeing with woad was developed, making |
| using plants from different families. Indigo for example, | | | | it easier to dye enough fibre to weave whole |
| comes from the bean family and is used in Asia and | | | | garments. A young girl wearing a blue dress, very likely |
| Central America; in Africa they use Lonchocarpus, | | | | dyed with woad, was found in an Iron Age grave |
| another member of the bean family. In India they dye | | | | (circa 1st century AD) in Denmark. |
| with a type of oleander and Sumatrans use a | | | | Woad & pottery |
| milkweed; japanese indigo is related to rhubarb, whilst | | | | Woad was not used only for dyeing; the abundant |
| the European and Chinese woad belong to the | | | | black woad seeds are shaped like tongues with a |
| cabbage family. | | | | ridge in the middle and with a tiny tail, leaving a pretty |
| How did people discover how to dye with woad? | | | | impression on clay. These seeds were used to |
| Probably by direct observation and possibly by noticing | | | | decorate pottery in Iron Age settlements in Germany. |
| that when the leaves were pressed by chance | | | | Woad vats |
| against their clothes, the clothes became a faint blue. | | | | Urine vats, also called sig vats, are still used today for |
| Some of these leaves may have medicinal properties | | | | historic re-enactment or as an easy and cheap way |
| and may have been used crushed in poultices under | | | | of dyeing with woad. Most dyers today, however, do |
| bandages. Another possibility is that Neolithic man or his | | | | not have the patience to wait two weeks for a urine |
| animals ate woad leaves in times of famine and saliva | | | | vat to work, neither are they prepared to put up with |
| mixed with chewed woad coming into contact with | | | | the smell of stale urine. If you want to dye with woad, |
| clothing resulted in the fibres becoming faintly blue. | | | | the simplest and quickest way is to prepare a |
| Over the centuries the process developed into | | | | chemical vat, using soda ash to make the vat alkaline |
| purposefully pressing crushed woad leaves against | | | | and spectralite to remove the oxygen. |
| fibres. The leaves have to be fresh to be used in | | | | Whichever method you chose, the ancient or the |
| direct dyeing, therefore plants that produced blue | | | | modern woad vat, you will find it very exciting to get |
| would most likely have been cultivated by an | | | | the same blues as Stone Age man. And if you want |
| increasing number of people. This happened to woad | | | | to go a step further, you can easily grow woad and |
| which slowly spread into Europe from its native origin in | | | | then extract your very own precious blue pigment. |