There is a Japanese documentary (in Japanese, of course) that was produced
some 10-12 years ago that showed the Mixtec/Zapotec peoples of Oaxaca,
Mexico, making cloth from Purpura patula pansa  Gould, 1853.  The artisans
would go to their "hunting grounds", pull the shells from the rocks,
squeeze the operculum, letting the juices fall onto the yarns, that they we
using, replace the shells back on the rocks to be able to return next year.
The program also showed the San Blas culture using worms to dye Cochineal
Red on their fabrics for making "Molas", the appliqué front pieces on
women's blouses.  I am not sure if that video is still available but you
might want to contact NHK or Fuji-TV.
        Dan


>>Has anyone actually tried to make a blue (or purple) dye from a Murex or
>>a Purpura in modern times? How would you do it?<
>
>It depends on how much you want.  To get purple stains on your shirt, all
>you have to do is pick up any of the relevant species and let some of the
>drips get onto you (personal observation).  To get enough dye for an
>entire piece of cloth requires more effort and more snails.  The ancient
>Phoenecian approach was to crush the shells.  Simply annoying live shells
>into producing the dye and then letting them go is obviously ecologically
>friendlier, though probably more effort per yield.  Other purple-secreting
>mollusks would probably work, too, e.g. Janthina.
>
>    Dr. David Campbell
>    Old Seashells
>    University of Alabama
>    Biodiversity & Systematics
>    Dept. Biological Sciences
>    Box 870345
>    Tuscaloosa, AL  35487-0345 USA
>    [log in to unmask]
>
>That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted
>Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at
>Droitgate Spa

Dan & Hiromi Yoshimoto
1164 Vista Dr.
Eureka, California
95503-6018
U.S.A.
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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