If you stand on the roof of any building in the Dyeing quater or the souks you will see bright, vibrant colors of wool, cotton and silk hanging to dry.
It is then spun onto dowls and sold for embroidery, or used for weaving. The dyers bodies are covered in which ever color they are doing that day usually from head to toe. It is a very quick process..and there are vats filled with the dye. I bought a few small quantities of the dye and have been playing around with the colors on paper.
The indigo is stunning.
In Essaouria this weekend I hope to find the authentic Tyrian Purple Dye which was produced and is still produced in the Ile de Mogador, two islands and several tiny islets off the coast. They are going to be off limits because of breeding season for Eleanora's Falcons.
They used to be called the iles Purpuraires because in roman times this is where the royalty would get the special purple dye for their clothing.
There is a whole history lesson about how the dye is cultivated from a mollusk.. I won't bore you with it, but it is fascinating how long this has been in production and how only very few people know how to do it...
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