Natural dyes, &c.

In a recent webcast, Markee Dragon suggested the player should need to create dyes through a recipe -- that you should gather materials and put them in a dye tub -- rather than through a color selection screen.

One advantage of this approach is that it would limit the palette of clothing to colors that could have been created through natural methods -- or additionally, through magic, based on the select choices of the dev team.

Just some background for reference:



There were three native plants that provided the primary colors for Medieval dyers: woad (Isatis tinctoria) for blue, madder (Rubia tinctorum) for red, and weld (Reseda luteola) for yellow. Weld was also referred to as "dyer's rocket." Green would be made from a combination of woad and weld.

These produced certain hues of the colors, so other dyes were imported, but were generally more expensive. A brighter, more expensive red color from kermes, a dye created from the dried body of a female insect (Kermes vermilio) that lives on the kermes oak. Lichens imported from Norway and the Canary Islands (Roccella tinctoria) provided the most widely used purple dye, called orchil. Another lichen (Ochrolechia tartarea), found in Britain, created another type of purple dye. An East Indian tree called brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata) provided a rich red color used in luxury textiles such as velvet. Expensive purple and blue dyes were made from a mollusc in the Mediterranean called the sea whelk or murex. "Imperial purple", or purpura, was created from one (Murex brandaris), and gave the mollusc its name, and "Royal blue" was created from another (Murex trunculus) and had an indigo color. Indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria) only became used later; it wasn't used at first outside of painting because it wouldn't dissolve in dye vats.

Other dyes used were saffron (Crocus sativus) for yellow, sumac (Rhus) for a yellowish-brown, henna root for red, walnut shells and roots for brown, pomegranate (Punica granatum) for yellow, tree galls for black, and lac for scarlet.

Fibers were also soaked in substances called mordants, which were fixatives and would help the color adhere to the fiber. They included the tannins from bark, nuts and wood, as well as solutions of mineral salts such as iron, tin and copper. Some mordants would also have the ability to alter the final color of the dye. The most common used was alum, which was color-neutral. In northern Europe, clubfoot moss, which absorbs aluminum from the soil, was used for the same purpose. Salts of iron, such as iron sulphate, were used to deepen and enrichen colors, and salts of tin, such as stannus chloride, to brighten colors. Dyes could also be altered by turning a solution acid with vinegar, or alkaline with lye or washing soda.

I also wanted to comment a bit on other aspects of the textile making process. Spinning and weaving were two different professions with separate guilds. Cloths would commonly be made with either wool or flax.

Another profession in the fabric trade in the Middle Ages was "fulling," which was the last process in the creation of a textile, and would create a stronger, thicker cloth. The resulting material was more windproof and waterproof, often referred to as "broadcloth." Fullers had their own guild, distinct from the others. They put the newly woven cloth in a trough filled with water, fuller's earth, lime, sand, and either urine or wine. Then they would either trample it with their feet, or through machinery in watermills. This would make the wool shrink to a third of its original size. Then the cloth would be stretched tightly on a tenterframe to dry.

 

I also guess this is a perfect place to add some information on the coloring of armor.



There aren't many physical examples of colored armor from the Medieval period; only paintings where armor is shown to be black or bluish. The color there could have just been an artistic choice. Most actual suits that are from that era are of the standard silver steel or polished ("white armor"). However, tinting armor those colors was possible through an oxidation processes, was done in later periods, and especially for for decorative suits, and is often done today by modern armorers to imitate the looks seen in paintings.

Steel could be made black through a process called "blackening" and the resulting product is referred to as "black oxide" armor. Its a narrow application of a broader process called "bluing" that results in a bluish tint; generally a brilliant blue-black finish. Both of these are also useful for making the armor more resistant to rust. An armor could be made reddish through "russeting," which provided a dark-red or purple hue, and which was a deliberate and controlled process of rusting the armor. Dark brown was made through a process called "browning." Controlled rusting was done through verjuice, a strong vinegar made from unripe grapes.

A description of the bluing process here.

Armor could also decorated with other materials besides steel and was also often painted. Armor could be gilded, by inlaying the surface with gold wire, "damascening," or through applying gold leaf, or through amalgam gilding, which was also known as "fire-gilding" or "mercury-gilding." Amalgam gilding was often used because the results were durable and long lasting.

Armor from the 1500s century onwards, made to be decorative and designed for aristocracy, was often made with a combination of bluing, russeting, browning, and gilding.

More on the process of creating and decorating armor here.

Some modern "black oxide" armor,




These examples are using brass in combination with the black oxide steel. Personally I like the lighter tone of black better. I don't know that the darker tone wasn't also created by "oiling" it on top of the blackening process.

 

Some interesting facts, from the last link, on the creation of armor.

* A suit of plate needed many specialists. 1. The armor first needed to be mined and melted down and sent to the armorers. 2. A hammer man would forge the iron, shape it, and cut it. 3. A millman or polisher would polish it and get it to the right thickness. 4. A finisher would assemble the pieces and add padding and leather buckles. 5. If they were decorated, they were sent to an artist such as an etcher, gilder, or painter.

* The iron was first pounded by hand on an anvil, but later armorers used "tilthammers." This was the same thing the fullers used for making broadcloth -- machinery powered by watermills. There were different types of hammers for different jobs.

* The metal was worked cold for shaping, but then case-hardened, to change it into steel. It would be wrapped in lard, goatskin, or charcoal, and allowed to cook.

* Plate armor could be made stronger by heating it to high temperature and quickly quenching it with water or oil. Different types of cooling also allowed it to gain strength.

* Making chain mail was of course a multi-step process, which I'd also like to see in the game. You'd make metal rods, then make hoops out of them, then holes created for rivets, then connected into the suits.

* Once again, I'd like to see layered armor in the game. It looks like we're having some type of layered clothing, as one can see by the cape in the male avatar; but allowing layered armor and clothing would add a lot to the game without making it complicated, because the player would have a choice how many layers to wear. The link talks about the gambeson/aketon, the mail suit, and the plate pieces. The link also talks about the history of the development of armor.

Some more information on the creation of armor, from a series "Armor smithing basics" and part of a larger series "How to make armor and swords."

 

I pretty much assumed that making dyes would be a function of alchemy and we'd end up with dye tubs or something similar to UO

 

Cool thread thanks for the info! My blood surname going back is the British name Naylor, the naylor made armor and horse shoes and clearly nailed them as well. The natural dyes in the game will be an awesome feature, and hope they add a form of coloring armor as well. I'd guess the dark suits of armor weren't painted black but were never cleaned not including the oxidation. I'd be for all kinds of dyes pale to bright but not neon, and as for armor I'd prefer more subtle shades excepting the rare piece being very dark or white.