Dyes
Colour that dissolves and soaks into cloth, leather, hair and food.
Red
Carmine
A deep red pigment made from cochineal insects, once prized across continentsPigment 路 馃嚝馃嚪 France +2
Purple and violet
Tyrian purple
A reddish-purple dye once worth its weight in silver, made from sea snailsDye 路 馃嚤馃嚙 Lebanon +4
Black
Bone char
A deep black pigment and filter made by charring animal bonesPigment
Red
Kermes
A deep red dye made from Mediterranean scale insects, once prized for scarlet clothDye 路 馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt +5
Blue
Tekhelet转职旨讻值诇侄转
A blue dye from sea snails, central to ancient Jewish ritual and traditionDye 路 馃嚠馃嚤 Israel +2
Red
Lac啶侧ぞ啶曕啶粪ぞ
A red resin secreted by insects and used as dye, varnish and shellacColour named from nature 路 馃嚠馃嚦 India +5
Red
Polish cochinealczerwiec polski
A crimson dye once vital to Poland, made from a native scale insectDye 路 馃嚨馃嚤 Poland +5
Black
Cephalopod ink
A dark liquid from sea creatures, once used in pens and now in Mediterranean and Japanese foodColour named from nature 路 馃嚡馃嚨 Japan +2
Red
Armenian cochineal崭謤栅铡斩 寨铡謤沾斋謤
A crimson dye once prized across Armenia and the Middle East, made from a rare insectDye 路 馃嚘馃嚥 Armenia +4
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tyrian purple: Photograph: U.Name.Me Derivative work: TeKaBe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lac: Jeffrey W. Lotz, CC BY 3.0, source
- Tekhelet: The original uploader was Sputnikcccp at English Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Carmine: Stephhzz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bone char: Honza Groh ( Jagro ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kermes: MyName ( Gryffindor ) stitched by Marku1988 This panoramic image was c, Public domain, source
- Polish cochineal: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Cephalopod ink: Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2, source
- Armenian cochineal: Vahe Martirosyan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source