Cochineal, Part 1

Cochineal is a small red-giving bug that lives on cacti in the western USA, Central and South America. When the Spanish came to America, the discovery of this light-fast red dye was worth more than any gold they found.

All I've done so far is the preliminary steps, but I took pictures so I'll put it up while I'm waiting for it to steep.

Cochineal is sold in dried bug form, so that it can't be cut with anything that might dilute the color. You need a mortar and pestle to grind it to a powder. Then you put this powder in a cloth bag (I used a double-layered panty hose bag because nylon is synthetic and will therefore pick up less color than using a cotton muslin bag), and you soak it in a small amount of warm water for 1 hour to a day. Much like madder, none of the recipes really agree, leaving me with broad time ranges and differing opinions that need to be assimilated. They all agree that 1oz-1.5oz will dye a whole pound of wool (holy hell that's strong), and I have a half ounce, so I get to dye a half-pound of fibers!!!!