Dyes — MayaIncaAztec.com
www.mayaincaaztec.com
All three, the Maya, Inca, and Aztec used the tiny coccid insect to produce the brilliant color of crimson. This color dye, which is called cochineal, became an important trade item between the New World and Europe. It became so valuable in the New World that only gold and silver were worth more. Th

They also produced the color purple or lavender from the murex mollusks that were found on the seacoast. Dye makers rubbed two of the mollusks together in order to extract the dye.

That sounds simple enough, but it also involved some real chemistry:

https://hal.science/hal-03202592/document

Purple was one of the most expensive and difficult dyes to acquire and process. 1 gram takes 10,000 snails. In Europe, it was solely used for kings.

  • HeartyOfGlass@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    This feels like a dumb question, but I’ll ask it anyway - Why not just mix red & blue dyes?

    • Successful_Try543@feddit.de
      0·
      3 months ago

      I think it’s because the colours are generated by a chemical reaction from e.g. woad (-> blue) or madder (-> red) which happen under different conditions.