Purple Scrolls: Part I - Dyed Paper

In my research for new manuscript images to inspire me (and quite by accident) while researching black medieval manuscripts, I came across mention of purple ones. Medieval manuscripts where the parchment or vellum had been painted purple. Purple being my favorite color I, of course, had to dig further.

Just a quick Google search turned up several images and digging through them to find more information was quite the process. At first most of the images were either such a dark purple they were nearly black or purple with a high red tone. Since I wanted to get them as close to the proper medieval color as possible I grabbed a couple of the reddish images to start my experimentation with.

The first image I was working with was featured on a number of sites but finding the actual source was going to take more work. I downloaded the image and decided to try to find the source of it later.

I loved the style of the initials and wanted to see more but first I had to be sure I could come up with appropriate paper to put them on.

My search for appropriate (acid free) purple paper yielded no results. The appropriate weight of Bristol only came in white or black. Water color paper only came in white. And anything else I found was not acid free nor heavy enough weight. My options at that point were very limited so I decided some experimentation was in order.

I did several searches for how to dye paper and found that it was possible but none of the posts I found were appropriate for what I was trying to do. They recommended using RIT dye and showed just basic craft dipping of things like coffee filters and light papers for making flowers or other 3d crafts. I found nothing detailing how to dye heavy paper for art.

I've never been a fan of RIT dye for anything that you want the color to last, not transfer to other surfaces, or dye a true, even color. I used to do tie-dye clothing and was always fond of the vibrant colors created with fiber reactive dye. I still had some supplies of dye from that time as well and figured since fiber reactive dye is made for natural (cellulose) fibers (cotton, linen, hemp, etc) that it would likely work well on paper.

I used Procion Fiber Reactive dye purchasable from Dharma Trading Co. online. I've done business with them for years and have always had good luck. They have a number of cloth dying and wood chip dying tutorials on their site and it was from there that I drew my technique for the dying process.

My first attempt at dying paper was a little disorganized and I didn't get pictures of the process but I still managed to create a few limited pieces to play with. In that first batch I tried to recreate the color above but couldn't find my Crimson Red so ended up combining 50/50 Grape and Fuscia Red.

The color didn't quite turn out how I wanted but I decided to keep it and continue working with it to see if I could create a usable scroll. I painted on my initial and delivered it to the calligrapher for more testing. More on that later.

Page from Lectionary on Purple Vellum

The second batch I got pictures! And by that point I'd found the source for the above image and it seems the color on it is shifted a bit off. As you can see from the below image taken from the Bibliothèque nationale de France their images of this particular manuscript show the tone to be a little less red but you can see they're still higher on the red side than the grape purple commonly thought of as "purple". Since I can't actually view the manuscript in it's original form I'm going to hope that the images presented on the BnF site are a more correct color representation. However I decided to keep my dying batch simple for the second round and just used a straight purple without the added extra red. I'm still in the testing stages and will refine as I go on. Fortunately I have found other manuscripts with more of the grape purple coloring so at least I know it's still possible.

My first batch was a sampling of Bristol and pergamenata. The Bristol performed well but the perg really wanted to wrinkle, and stay wrinkled. Those two test pieces are still in a press.

For the second batch I stayed away from the perg and dyed some Bristol and hot press watercolor paper.

Fiber reactive dye requires some extra supplies to make sure it "sets" properly. These include salt (about half a cup for the batch size I was working in) and soda ash (about 1/3 cup mixed in warm water).

I won't go through the whole mixing process as that would make this post hugely long but if anyone expresses an interest I'd be more than happy to share it. The condensed version is mix your dye and put your sheets of paper in and agitate them (move them around in the dye solution) for about 15 minutes (or until the corners of the paper start to get mushy).

Always wear gloves and cover your work surface with paper

When dying the paper I tried to keep the pages separated (I dyed multiple pieces to maximize dye use) and mostly succeeded, though even if there is some stickage it's not a total failure. I made sure that I dyed at least two pieces of each type of paper to ensure I had a "working" piece and a "testing" piece from the same batch to ensure color consistency.

Pull the pieces apart repeatedly during dye soak

Once the dye soaking was done I placed them all in a plastic tub to transport to the bathroom for rinsing. Rinsing with cold water after the dye process is complete is important to make sure you get all the excess dye particles off the paper. You don't want them all over your hands, clothes, or art table while trying to work with it later.

Rinsing in the shower

Not exactly the best setup for rinsing but it worked this time. I have plans to fix it for later batches.

Once it was all rinsed I let it hang in the shower until it was done dripping then took it out to the nice, warm garage to hang for a bit longer. At this stage it is important to not let the paper dry completely or it's going to curl, warp, and basically do it's best to be a pain to work with later. It just needs to be not drippy and just barely damp to the touch. If it starts to warp then it's time to take it down and toss it in the press.

A lot of sites out there tell you to press paper in a heavy book or heavy art pad. I've discovered that this is not a good idea when you're working with tub dyed paper. The pages of said book or pad like to pick up the remaining moisture from the paper and warp, thus causing your paper to warp as well. You get a lot of funky wrinkles that are difficult to draw or paint on.

What I used as my "press" was two pieces of 3/4 inch plywood and some cloth. Solid, heavy, and will allow the paper to dry without contact warping. Paper shouldn't be dried directly on the wood but instead on a layer of thin cloth. I used a sheet doubled over on the bottom and since I didn't have a second sheet to put over the top I used thin bath towels. The cloth will wick out the moisture without warping allowing the paper to dry flat.

My "high tech" press of plywood and bed sheet.

After everything was in place with the paper "sandwiched" between cloth and plywood, I weighted the whole thing down with boxes of books. The plywood was pretty heavy anyway but this was a precautionary measure. I wanted to keep them as flat as possible during the pressing/drying process.

Then I had to be patient, which was the hardest part of this whole thing. I waited about a week to ensure the paper was completely dry and pressed before removing it. That process might have taken longer if my garage wasn't as warm as it is currently.

During the rinsing process I discovered that some of the paper had stuck together during the dying step despite my best efforts to prevent it. Still, nothing was a complete failure and all pieces still came out workable. You can see in the below picture which ones stuck together by the large, pale patch in the center. (The one next to it is turned to show the unstuck side).

Bristol board pieces that stuck together

It's interesting to note that the Bristol board took the color more evenly than the watercolor paper, but I don't consider the inconsistent colors on the watercolor a failure. I actually rather like the look of the way it dyed. I'm fairly happy with both types and look forward to putting art on them.

Watercolor paper with dye inconsistencies

I've already tried painting on one piece of dyed paper from my first batch and while there were some adjustments to technique needed for the changed properties of the paper (it really likes to suck up water from gouache) it wasn't anything insurmountable and the first initial I painted in gold turned out lovely.

The first batch was pretty bright but those who are doing the calligraphy testing think it can still be used for something if they succeed with the calligraphy. Once the results of that come in I'll post them here. (I don't do calligraphy myself so had to bring in experts in the field for this portion of the testing).

Brighter than actual color in person

The B turned out amazing on this and I really hope it can be used for something. Even when I'm experimenting I always approach it as if I'm doing something FOR someone so it's my best work. I don't want it to fail because I didn't try my best. If something is going to fail, I want it to fail for something beyond my control (at that point). Thus, why I gave this "experimental" piece such a highly detailed initial.

I'm really enjoying puzzling through this process to reach a point where I can regularly produce purple scrolls based on manuscripts. Since I can't afford to work with vellum or parchment it's been a unique challenge to create them in materials I can work with.

When the results of the calligraphy are in I'll be sure to post them here and thanks to Richard and Eva for their willingness to participate in my crazy experiments.