BLACK

These are the colors that can be achieved with medieval leather dyes, made from iron-tannin and iron-tannic-acid reactions (Iron, vinegar, German vitriol, and green vitriol).

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PURPLE

These are the colors that can be achieved with medieval leather dyes, made from Brazilwood.

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GREEN

These are the colors that can be achieved with medieval leather dyes, made from buckthorn berries, indigo, woad, and elderberry.

I was able to get this spectacular green leather dye from a Dutch manuscript recipe, using a mix of vinegar, verdigris, and saffron. Unfortunately, I cannot get it to dye leather at all. YET.

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YELLOW

These are the colors that can be achieved with medieval leather dyes, made from buckthorn berries and turmeric root.

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GREY

These are the colors that can be achieved with medieval leather dyes, made from German vitriol.

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BLUE

These are the colors that can be achieved with medieval leather dyes, made from indigo, woad, and elderberry

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Fantastic work Harry. Thank you so much for sharing your findings with us.

Is your opus going to be publicly available in some way in the near future?

I'm in the process of writing a manuscript in book format. The book will be limited in scope, with about 15 dyes. I'm thinking of a publishing house that does print on demand. I can't imagine anyone wanting to print a run of this book.

This is absolutely wonderful and a boon to those of us who want to make use of natural / historical dyes. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

I just finished the manuscript for the book, and it's in review now. Obviously I am not going to become a millionaire with a book like this, so I would like to produce something that's truly useful. Your input would help.

The book has about 150 pages front-to-back, with 40 short chapters.

-one chapter describing the dyer's manuscripts
-sixteen chapters on dye substrates
-seven chapters on various reagents
-fourteen chapters on the best 14 dyes in red, black, purple, blue, green, yellow, grey, and brown
-cross-references for all know medieval leather dyes
-glossary
-bilbiography
-index

I am excluding quite a bit of information, but I think that I am touching on all the key points, and the most illustrative dye recipes. As I state in the preface, "The astute student will be able to apply this knowledge and re-create other dye recipes that are not included in this book."

Does this sound like anything that would be useful? Too much? Too little?

This book is a practical “how-to” guide to re-creating medieval European leather dyes for the historical craftsman, or anyone else who desires to bring natural historical colors to their leather projects. I have selected 14 of the best leather dye recipes from ancient medieval dyer’s manuscripts, and provided step-by-step instructions on how to re-create these historical dyes. The dye colors include red, black, purple, green, blue, yellow, black, grey, and brown.

Contents
1. Introduction
2. General Principles of Using Natural Leather Dyes
3. Medieval Dyer’s Manuscripts
4. Brazilwood
5. Cochineal Insects
6. Madder Root
7. Buckthorn Berries
8. Elderberry
9. Green Vitriol
10. Blue Vitriol
11. German Vitriol
12. Roman Vitriol
13. Shoemaker’s Dye (Atramentum)
14. Elemental Iron
15. Indigo Blue
16. Woad
17. Soap
18. Turmeric Root
19. Saffron Crocus
20. Chalk
21. Gallnuts
22. Gum Arabic
23. Lime
24. Lye
25. Roche Alum
26. Vinegar
27. To Make a Most Perfect Brazil (Plictho #17)
28. To Make a Good Brazil in Another Manner (Plictho #18)
29. To Dye Skins Black (Plictho #173)
30. To Make Black Tanned Skins (Plictho #203)
31. To Dye Skins of a Very Beautiful and Good Purple (Segreti #330)
32. To Make Very Fine Colour of Brazil (Plictho #174)
33. To Dye Skins Blue (Segreti #336)
34. To Dye Skins blue, or of the color of Azure (Piedmont #1)
35. To Dye Skins Green (Segreti #333)
36. Another green of Skins (Booke #15)
37. To Make Skins Yellow (Plictho #207).
38. To Make a Yellow Colour on Skins (Booke #9)
39. To Make a Skin Gray (Plictho #177)
40. To Dye and Tan Skins in Brown (Plictho #181)
Cross Reference by Manuscript
Cross Reference by Color
Cross Reference by Substrate
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Dyer’s Glossary
Index

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Wow, that’s remarkable! Looking forward to it!

Very well done Harry, thanks for sharing your research and I applaud your dedication to this. I'll buy a book when available. Keep us all posted please

Anything specific or different that people would want in such a book?

I am very interested in this book. A question.....do you cover where to get the ingredients from?

Thanks!

Just found this thread and natural historical leather dyes is exactly what I'm looking for.

I'll make sure to purchase a copy of this book as soon as it releases.

Hello Harry and all. This is a great thread. I've been seeking a period yellow leather dye, having just completed a simple test with turmeric and found it to have too little lightfastness for outdoor use. I was wondering if you've looked into barberry. I've come across many brief references to using it on leather, but no specifics on how.

I have never heard of barberry. It was not mentioned in any of the manuscripts that I've reviewed.

I'm afraid that, with rare except, none of the medieval dyes are washfast or sunfast.