dyed paper

Ingredients

saffron, tumeric, safflower, lac, sapanwood, henna, pomegranate bark, indigo, sunflower-croton, verdigris, orpiment, ceruse, blue vitriol, mordants, tea, walnuts, dyer's buckthorn seeds, logwood, soot, onion skins

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Paper was colored by immersion in a vat of dye (p. 24). The dye was boiled in water and poured into a trough. Paper was soaked until the desired color was reached and dried (p. 25). Vegetal dyes: saffron/tumeric (yellow), henna/pomegranate bark (red/brown), indigo, tea (cream/tan), pomegranate/walnut skins (brown), dyer's buckthorn (yellow), logwood (red/purple), soot (yellowish white from caramel), onion skins (red). Minerals: verdigris, orpiment, ceruse, blue vitriol. Mordants fixed the colors (p. 25).

Evidence

"The dye was boiled in water which was then poured into a trough. The paper was soaked in the dye until it reached the desired color and then set aside to dry."

Remarks

The author compares this to European methods where fibers were dyed before paper-making (p. 24). Recipes for paper dyeing in Iran date from the fifteenth century and were summarized by Yves Porter (p. 24). Mordants were essential for fixing vegetal dyes during the immersion process (p. 25).