Winding Down.

It feels like we're nearing the end of the year alright - days are getting ever shorter, the cat sleeps more and more (though that is due to age, I think, and not just due to the time of year and weather), and I'm trying to get things sorted for the end of the year, and winding down a little. 

Getting things sorted includes sorting and labeling pictures, and here's one for you: 

That is a good amount of quite expensive ground-up lice about to be stirred into a beaker of hot water. It was really, really exciting to dye with kermes, and I'm feeling very privileged!

That said... the colour turned out very nice indeed, but it's not that you couldn't come close or imitate it with a good knowledge on how to handle your madder and cochineal. Though it may be possible that with some post-processing, it can go more into the purple-y shade, and that might be harder to get with madder and cochineal. But, well, who knows?

It would be really, really interesting though how many people in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age would have been able to actually tell if something was really done with kermes, or if it was just well-faked. My guess would be that a good fake is indistinguishable from the real thing today, and would have been back then. Similar, probably, with shellfish purple. But, hey, expensive! Prestigious! So definitely a must-have!