SO FUN. Local maple dyed with madder root and logwood dyes, finished with tung oil and shellac. These compliment-getters are assembled with a textured brass ring and shiny brass and gold-filled hardware. 
 
Logwood is a dye derived from the heartwood of the campeche tree native to Mexico. As Europeans discovered the lightfast properties of logwood dye, demand for campeche (like cochineal) partly drove patterns of colonial conquest in central America. Nowadays it is still used for laboratory supplies, as it is pH-reactive in useful ways. I hold this history in mind as I explore how this dye works, and wonder what reciprocal trade relationships could make this tropical tree of sustainable use here in the northern latitudes.
 
Madder root was the primary European source for reds. Martin Luther (the religious reformer) grew madder plants in his dye garden. Achieving what we know as a "true red" with natural dyes is surprisingly difficult, and there are fantastic medieval recipes that call for lots of foul ingredients. As it turns out, many of those ingredients were pH-shifters. Madder's complex of dye molecules are also reactive to temperatures, alkalinity, and minerals. Hard to control, but fun to play with, madder can produce a range of reds from tangerine to terra cotta to blood red to mauve-y and peachy pinks. 
 
Petroleum free