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Introduction : This is a minor accessory that an Elizabethan lady would have worn or carried outdoors, partly to show off her wealth and partly to shade her head/neck/cleavage from the sun. There are no period recipes for making this color or the (presumably) similar ‘peas-porridge tawney.' Both were fashionable shades of olive green in the 1570s-1600. The scarf itself is a fringed, lightweight, flat crepe, which was not to my knowledge a period weave, but I am bound by what fabrics are commercially available today.
The Process: Step 1: Prepare fabric for dyeing: Wash , rinse, and soak for at least 1 hour to relax the fabric prior to dyeing. Step 2: Prepare mordant & apply to fabric. The silk was cold mordanted with alum (at 25% of dry weight of fabric). Cold mordanting takes a minimum of 12 hours, but hot mordanting can damage the luster of silk. Step 3: Extract the dye. Fustic is a heartwood dye, meaning the wood shavings must be oxidized the day before dye extraction. The shavings are then soaked in warm water for 1-2 hours, the liquor strained out and added to a pot of clean water. Step 4: Dye the fabric . Application of gentle heat during the dye process encourages fustic to shade towards golden tones. The silk must be constantly moved through the dyebath to ensure even dyeing. After reaching a deep golden color, the silk was briefly transferred to a hot iron bath (approx. 1/8 tsp of iron) to shift the color to green. The modification occurred quickly (1-2 minutes). Step 5: Finishing. The scarf was immediately rinsed and washed again with a mild dishwashing soap, hung up to dry, and later ironed.
Historical Questions
· What proof is there that Elizabethan women wore silk scarves? In 1583 Phillip Stubbes complained "…and above all things they must have their silk scarffes cast about their faces & fluttering in the winde with great tassels at every end, either of gold, silver or silk…they will say they weare these scarfes…to keep them from Sun-burning…" He calls scarves ‘flags of pride'.
Scarves are listed as New Year's gifts to Queen Elizabeth in 1577-8, 1578-9, 1588-89, and 1599-1600. Materials included network, sarcenet (lightweight taffeta), lawn, cypress, & an undefined 'cloth,' probably wool. These items are clearly differentiated from similar accessories, such as veils and mufflers. Digby cites a single surviving embroidered scarf about 10 ft long (91). English women with scarves show up in period costume books, book and map illustrations (including around the neck of a woman decorating a period map of Norwich ). Scarves are also portrayed in at least 2 period paintings that show women outdoors: Joris Hoefnagel's “Fete at Bermondsey” (ca. 1570), (the 2nd and 4th women on the left carry scarves) and an anonymous artist's “A Gentleman of the Delves Family, aged 40.” This last is russet color, worn tied to the woman's wrist, and is clearly edged with lace.
· Why aren't scarves typically seen in period English women's portraits? The most commonly seen accessories in women's portraits are handkerchiefs, gloves & fans, all of which are interpreted as "marriage accessories" (Green, 1088) that show off both the wealth of the sitter and their marital status. Scarves are not an icon of marriage, and therefore less likely to appear in portraits.
· Would this be dyed at home, or by a professional ? By a professional, due to the use of expensive materials and lack of printed recipes to make the color. Goose-turd green and peas-porridge tawney were two of the new ‘garish' colors complained of by William Harrison [p. 172]. Their newfangledness points towards the use of fustic, an import from the New World , which gives a very different base yellow color than does weld, and which shifts to olive greens upon application of an iron modifier.
Sources Consulted
Anon. (15th Century). Segreti per Colori . English translation by Mary Merrifield, originally published in Original Treatises on the Arts of Painting, 1846, and available online at http://costume.dm.net/dyes/segreti.htm.
Anon. (1561-1562; 1577-1578; 1578-1579; 1588-1589; 1599-1600) New Year's Gifts to Queen Elizabeth , transcribed by Karen Larsdattir from The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, http://geocities.com/karen_larsdatter/gifts/
Brunello, Franco (1973). The Art of Dyeing in the History of Mankind. English translation by Pheonix Dyeworks, Cleveland , Ohio .
Dean, Jenny (1999). Wild Color: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes. New York : Watson-Guptill Publications.
Digby, George Winfield (1963). Elizabethan Embroidery. London : Faber & Faber.
Edelstein, Sidney M. (1964). “The Allerley Matkel (1532): Facsimile Text, Translation, and Critical Study of the Earliest Printed Book on Spot Removing and Dyeing.” Technology and Culture , 5(3), 297-321.
Green, Juana (2000). "The Sempster's Wares: Merchandising and Marrying in the Fair Maid of Exchange (1607)," Renaissance Quarterly , 53(4), 1084-1118.
Harrison, William (1587). “The description of England ,” published as part of Raphael Holinshed's The First and Second volumes of Chronicles… , London .
Liles, JN (1990). The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes for Modern Use. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press.
Philip, William (1596). A Booke of Secrets . London : Adam Islip for Edward White. [This is a 16th C collection of dye recipes and instructions for stain removal.]
Rosetti, Gioanventura (1548) The Plictho of Gioanventura Rosetti: Instructions in the Art of the Dyers which Teaches the Dyeing of Woolen Cloths, Linens, Cottons, and Silk by the Great Art as Well as by the Common. Reprint by S. M. Edelstein and HC Borghettym, trans. Cambridge : MIT Press, 1969. [This was not available in English during the 16 th Century.]
Stubbes, Phillip (1583) The anatomie of abuses… London : By [John Kingston for] Richard Iones.
Warde, William (1580). The seconde parte of the Secrets of maister Alexis of Piemont… London : Henry Bynneman for Iohn Wyght.
SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Braun and Hogenberg (1572-1617) Civitates Orbis Terrarum , images from Nonesuch Palace & Norwich are online at http://needleprayse.webcon.net.au/research/middle_class_elizabethan_clothing.html
De Bruyn, Abraham (before 1587). Omnium pene Europae, Asiae, Aphricae atque Americae Genitum Habitus . LACMA, AC1997.164 1a-bbb, available for viewing online at http://www.lacma.org.
Hasleton, Richard (1595). Strange and wonderful things. London .
Hearn, Karen, ed. (1995). Dynasties: Painting in Tudor & Jacobean England . New York : Rizzoli.