I am in need of more input and information for the construction of my kit, aiming at the late first century or so. Does anyone have definitive examples of the use of "black" leather goods and if so, what was used for a dye?
I now have a fairly good supply of leather recovered from leather coats and jackets, but almost all is black. Actually I am hoping black was common or at least used, as that is what I really want to use, but won't if it wasn't in existence. What I have found so far is that the use of "fixed" dyes seems to start around the first century c.e.
Thanks to all in advance for submitting your knowledge.
Leather, like wool, is a protein material. Leather, of course, is not fibrous in the same way that wool is. However, the most likely way of getting a black wopuld be to use crushed oak galls (which contain a high concentration of tannin/tannic acids), together with an iron salt. This would make iron tannate - which is black. This was used to make black ink right up to at least the Middle Ages.
An alternative would be to use the hide of a black cow - though whether this would survive the tanning process is beyond my knowledge.
Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
Mike, appreciate that first menu for a tanning solution that would give a dark look to the leather.
However a black, roan, white, tan, etc. cow would all have the same color hide under the hair.
My main question was whether there was any black leather used during the time period I quoted and you seem to have hit one aspect on the head. Even if it was not "dyed" black, it would probably take on the color of a U.S. Marine's dress shoes, which are a cross between cordovan and black. They may have gone to all black by now, as I don't know. I've been out of the service too many years.
Thanks again Mike
Quote:Does anyone have definitive examples of the use of "black" leather goods
Yes.
Quote:and if so, what was used for a dye?
Pliny and Dioscorides both talk about using vitriol to make "atramentum sutorium", a black stain used by shoemakers.
Adding oak galls would perhaps make atramentum librarium but would the tannin from the oak galls really add anything when working with skins that'd already been tanned with oak bark, since the iron in the vitriol reacts with the tannic acid to create the black iron tannate?
When I've played with this, I've ended up with colours ranging from grey/brown to black, depending on the iron content of the vitriol.
You can replicate the results by using iron and vinegar to create a 'safe' vitriol (safer than mucking about with sulphuric acid anyway) which, when used on an oak tanned leather (which is dark brown, rather than the majority of very pale modern veg-tanned leathers, which, having been bleached, are probably a poor starting point for any attempt) gives a dark grey which, when oiled with neetsfoot oil, gives a nice black finish.
Quote:You can replicate the results by using iron and vinegar to create a 'safe' vitriol (safer than mucking about with sulphuric acid anyway) which, when used on an oak tanned leather (which is dark brown, rather than the majority of very pale modern veg-tanned leathers, which, having been bleached, are probably a poor starting point for any attempt) gives a dark grey which, when oiled with neetsfoot oil, gives a nice black finish.
I read once, and my experiments seem to confirm this, that the iron vinegar works on paler vegetable tans as far as blackening them goes: It dries them out and stiffens them too much, but oiling afterward will counteract that.
Dan D'Silva
Far beyond the rising sun
I ride the winds of fate
Prepared to go where my heart belongs,
Back to the past again.
-- Gamma Ray
Well, I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able
To pick myself up from under this table...
-- Thin Lizzy
Dan D'Silva - It'll work, but I've found that it works better (and produces a deeper 'black') with good quality oak tanned leather, which doesn't dry out. Flushing the work piece with an alkaline solution afterwards to neutralise the acid helps as well.
I used the vinegar/steel wool solution to "dye" my new spolas black (actually a deep. deep gray - neat's foot oil made it "black". I had veg-tan hide. I brushed it on - move fast! I used a baking soda rinse (big tub!) to stop the reaction. Then I rinsed it in plain water. After it dried (blotchy - but it evened out), I used the oil on it, It is pliable but not floppy. I've been meaning to post a pic, I guess I should sort that out. The black came out fine. Test it on scrap to see how your hide will react. The longer you leave it on, the darker it gets. The longer you leave it on, the more the leather breaks down. Testing is your friend. Don't forget the edges - they will suck up the solution because the fibers are exposed.
The red is red-dyed goatskin I had leftover from making my scabbard. The beige is also goatskin I had leftover - I think from the aegis I made for an Athena costume. (I was using up lots of scrap - the hide for the spolas broke the budget.)
Quote:What about other colors than black, like Red, Green, Yellow? How did they achieve these colors?
These colors existed, they are mentioned in Lau, Otto: Schuster und Schusterhandwerk in der griechisch-römischen Literatur und Kunst. Bonn 1967, together with white (alumn tanned leather). Earlier Egyptian finds come with green and red leather, a Roman/Jewish 2nd century bag has red and black, late Roman/coptic shoes have red and gold (gilded leather). The Germanic belt from Gommern came in (most probably) white and gilded leather.
Red can be done with madder, a yellow of sorts with birch leaves, but generally we know very, very little detail about the exact processes unfortunately :-(
An excellent book on dyes (but from around 1500) is the Liber Illuministarum from the Tegernsee monastery.
