woad plant dye

What Colour dye does the woad plant yield?

WOAD (Isatis tinctoria)

It is closely related to broccoli and cabbage. Both indigo and woad provide us with a beautiful blue dye. The chemical which gives the blue dye is called indigotin.

How do you make woad dye?

Take the leaves from the base of the plant and then cut them into small pieces. Submerge the torn or cut leaves in a stainless steel pan of water and bring up to a temperature of 175F (80C). Simmer for about 10 minutes. Cool the woad dye down as quickly as possible, so that the leaves don't breakdown too much.

What Colour is the dye made from woad?

Isatis tinctoria, also called woad (/ˈwoʊd/), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem. Woad is also the name of a blue dye produced from the leaves of the plant.

Is woad the same as Indigo?

Woad was, and still is, the native European source of indigo blue dye. ... This is confusing as the blue colouring matter in woad is the same as the blue colouring matter in “indigo”, but the dye is much less concentrated in woad leaves, which is why “indigo” eventually largely replaced woad in Europe.

How do you dye wool with woad?

Dyeing Techniques

The fermentation removes the oxygen from the vat making the woad soluble. Wool or fabric is dipped into the vat, left for a few minutes, and then removed. At first the wool is pale yellow, but with exposure to air, the colour gradually turns to green and then to blue.

Is woad a hallucinogen?

"The blue part of the Woad is not any sort of hallucinogen, despite lore to the contrary. The raw sap crushed from fresh Woad leaves sometimes causes surface skin numbness, slight dizziness, and in certain bloodlines, a vague impression of less danger or more confidence.

Why did the Celts paint their bodies blue?

So, where did the idea about the Picts painting themselves blue originate from? Julius Caesar once noted that the Celts got blue pigment from the woad plant and that they used it to decorate their bodies. ... It has also been theorized that the real use of woad was perhaps intended to heal the scars after the battle.

Is woad a perennial?

Dyer's woad is an erect biennial herb that grows to four feet tall. It can also sometimes act as an annual or shortlived perennial. Before growing its flowering stems, the plant exists as a basal rosette for a growing season.

Did Vikings use woad?

“All the Britons dye their bodies with woad, which produces a blue colour, and this gives them a more terrifying appearance in battle.” Vikings may have learned of and adopted this tactic during the period of their invasion and subsequent immersion in Britain, though I haven't seen evidence of this.

Is Dyer's woad poisonous?

Although dyer's woad is not toxic, it is unpalatable to livestock.

Did Celts paint themselves blue?

It's a big part of pop culture and popular opinion that Celts (especially the Picts) painted themselves blue using a dye from the plant isatis tinctoria (woad). ... All the British color themselves with glass, which produces a blue color.

How do you identify woad?

All leaves have a prominent cream colored mid-rib extending the entire length of the leaf, and a bluish-green color. The leaf color and prominent mid-rib are good identifying characteristics of dyer's woad. The weed has a thick, fleshy tap root that penetrates down to 3 feet into the soil.

How do you make blue dye in real life?

To make a blue food dye, slice up red cabbage leaves and boil for 10-15 minutes. Strain out the cabbage, reduce the liquid until it is thick and syrupy (the cooking liquid from a whole cabbage will reduce to about a quarter of a cup. Now you have an intensely purple syrup.

What is woad used for?

Medicinal use of Woad:

The leaves are antibacterial, anticancer, antiviral, astringent and febrifuge. It controls a wide range of pathogenic organisms, including viruses. It is used internally in the treatment of a wide range of disorders, including meningitis, encephalitis, mumps, influenza, erysipelas, heat rash etc.

How do you use welding dye?

Dyeing with Weld

Weld produces a wide range of brilliant lemon yellows and can be over-dyed with woad to produce Lincoln Green. Soak the weld in water overnight. Simmer for about an hour but do not allow the weld to boil. Let the dye bath cool and strain and then add fibres and leave them overnight.

Where can I find woad?

It has been cultivated throughout Europe for hundreds of years, and there were important woad-growing regions in the UK during the medieval period. Native to the steppes and deserts of Central Asia, it is also found throughout south-east and central Europe.

What is a Woad warrior?

Woad warriors are brave fighters - and mad. They disdain armour and most cloting, preffering to paint themselves with intricate and stylised magical designs in woad (a blue dye) to deflect enemy blows and missiles.

What is a woad in King Arthur?

In the movie, barbarians to the north of Roman Britannia are termed Woads. They seem to be based on a historical northern British people called the Picts. The Picts did paint themselves (tattoos) like the movie's Woads. They lived mainly north of the defunct Antonine Wall across the cockpit of modern Scotland.

Are Celts Vikings?

There is no genetic relationship between Vikings and Celts, but they lived next to each other around 1000 BC, and the Celtic culture had a deep influcence on ancient Germanic people. Therefore, they have much in common.

Why did they paint the blue face in Braveheart?

' Mel Gibson's blue face paint in Braveheart is a nod to the Pictish tradition of body-paint - but the real Picts fought stark naked, and there are records of them doing so up until the 5th Century. The Roman name for the people - Picti - means 'painted people'. It's not known what they called themselves.

Are Picts Vikings?

When the Vikings arrived in Orkney, it was already inhabited by a people known as the Picts. ... Rather, it is believed that the Norse quickly overtook existing Pictish settlements, renamed them, and replaced both the culture and language with their own native Norse (Vikings in Orkney Guide).