uses: 27607
This data as json
id | species | tribe | source | pageno | use_category | use_subcategory | notes | rawsource |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
27607 | 2959 | 157 | 74 | 21 | 5 | 108 | Gum used to make black dye. A black dye was made from pinyon gum, the leaves and twigs of sumac and a native yellow ocher. The sumac leaves were put in water and allowed to boil until the mixture became strong. While this was boiling, the ocher was powdered and roasted. Pinyon gum was then added to the ocher and the whole roasted again. As roasting proceeded, the gum melted and finally the mixture was reduced to a black powder. This was cooled and thrown into the sumac mixture, forming a rich blue-black fluid which was essentially an ink. When this process was finished the wool was put in and allowed to boil until it was dyed the right shade. This same dye was also used to color leather and buckskin. | Elmore, Francis H., 1944, Ethnobotany of the Navajo, Sante Fe, NM. School of American Research, page 21 |