vacation tours pegleg or peralta? - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

or chlorophyll, generally from the green
parts of the same rabbitbrush that furnished
lemon yellow. Chlorophyll is tremendously
light-sensitive and usually
fades with the slightest excuse. But in
some cases leaf-green has lasted for hundreds
of years. In one of the many caves
explored by Kidder and Guernsey in
northeastern Arizona, the inhabitants
had built partitions across the cave with
leafy oak boughs and after all the centuries
between the day they were gathered
to the hour of their disovery, the dry
oak leaves still clung to the branches
green and un faded. Leaf-green forms
permanent, light-resistant compounds
with copper salts and it possible that
where leaf-green from some particular
Sumac, also called "squawbush" is exceptionally
rich in tannin and forms
an essential ingredient in the black
dye of the Navajo.
plant is recommended as a dye, copper
fairs are unusually abundant in the plant
juice.
Blue, before the Spanish introduced
indigo, was little used as a textile dye
except for the navy blue shades of the
Navajo black dye. However, there was
another blue not commonly known. This
was from the Hopi blue bean, raised
both for a food and for making a light
blue to almost black on textile fibers.
The following formula based on the
Indian dyes are ones from which I have
removed most of the "bugs" and are included
for the benefit of readers of Desert
Magazine who may want to try their
hands at this ancient art.
BLACK. Take as many sumac leaves
as will fill a half gallon measure. Bruise
in a mortar or run through a food-chopper
until well pulped. Cover with half
gallon of water and boil for two hours,
renewing water as lost by evaporation
and strain. To make the second ingredient
take equal volumes of powdered
pinon gum or ordinary drugstore rosin
and natural yellow ocher—the paint store
kind will not do. Natural ocher is known
in the mineral world as limonite or common
rust. Grind the rosin and ocher to a
fine flour and mix thoroughly by sifting.
Transfer this mixture to an ordinary iron
skillet and while stirring continually with
an iron rod, heat over a charcoal fire.
Avoid flames since burning will spoil the
product. At first the mixture will melt,
Pinon pine. The gum heated with
yellow ocher makes the other essential
ingredient of the Navajo black.
bubble and give off puffs of yellowish
smoke as it grows darker and darker.
After about an hour, the now black mixture
will begin to roll up in wads under
the stirring rod. As soon as these wads
begin to show a rubbery consistency it is
time to take it from the fire. The compound
will look like black, vesicular lava.
Grind this material to a fine powder and
add it to the leaf decoction and let it
boil. At first the liquid is simply a muddy,
brown fluid but as boiling continues
a rich, blue-black color develops. To dye
wool in this bath immerse the wet yarns
and boil until they show a deep black
which does not strip in the rinse water.
The yarn should remain black after the
loose dye is washed off. To dye cotton
you need three baths, one of the pre-
pared leaf solution alone, one of clear
limewater and the blue-black bath. Boil
the cotton yarns in the sumac bath for an
hour. Lift and pass directly into the lime
bath and let soak for half an hour. The
yarns now will be a deep brown. Let the
yarn dry thoroughly, dampen and then
boil in the blue-black bath. The result
will be a deep slate color.
RED. Grind the dry barks of alder
and mountain mahogany to a coarse meal.
Add two cupfuls of alder and one of
mountain mahogany to half a gallon of
water in a copper dye pot. Boil for two
hours renewing water as lost. Strain and
add about one fourth teaspoonful of
sodium carbonate (sal soda). The solution
will become intensely red. Immerse
the yarn and boil to the desired color.
The color is fast on wool but weak on
cotton.
YELLOW. Take a half gallon measureful
of fresh, uncrushed leaves of cottonwood.
Cover with half gallon of
water and boil until the solution becomes
a clear, strong yellow. Remove the leaves
and boil for ten minutes. Add half a
teaspoonful of sodium carbonate and a
teaspoonful of powdered alum and immerse
the yarn. Boil for half an hour.
The yarn will be an intense yellow, fast
to soap and water on wool or cotton.
GREEN. Grind fresh, green leaves of
elder {Sambuctis coerulea) in a foodchopper
until about a quart of pulp has
been prepared. Squeeze the juice through
muslin into a copper pot or glazed crock.
Immerse the yarn in the cold juice and
'soak for two hours. The yarns will be a
deep moss-green which would fade in
either light or water. To set this dye,
have ready a second bath containing half
a teaspoonful of powdered copper sulphate
and one cupful of vinegar in a
quart of water. Heat this bath to boiling,
immerse the yarns and boil for half an
hour. Rinse once in cold water and then
put through a bath of dilute sodium carbonate
(tablespoonful to a quart of cold
water) and rinse again. The result will
be a lettuce-green fast to light and water.
Experimenting with natural dyes is not
time wasted. In some respects they are
more satisfactory than many of the artificial
dyes, since they fade "true"; that
is, they fade to paler shades of the original
color. Besides this there is a satisfaction
in doing this primeval chemical
magic with native materials you gather
yourself. •
July, 1968 / Desert Magazine / 29