The Lady of Susa: Reconstructing the clothing of Achaemenid Persia (Part 4)

Today we dye!

Dye, not die.... Although if done improperly, I imagine one could accidentally do both.

I'll start off with the "big" dye project:

Saffron.

 Saffron pickers via

Yes, I'm going to dye with saffron. It is the only dye in this costume that I can do accurately (I'm hoping this doesn't bite me in the bottom later on) as true Tyrian purple is impossible for someone of my dyeing capabilities, and regular murex-dyed cloth is next to impossible.

 So, without further ado, I present to you my attempt to dye with saffron the way my ancestors did.

Mehndi Madness

Warning: This post does contain nudity. What can I say, Qajars loved ladies' adornments.

All the previous posts about Mughal India and dancing girls, and mehndi was completely overlooked.

So here's a little bit about mehndi, or as we call it in Iran, henna.

 Image via... well, National Geographic... Says so right there.;)

The Fuchsia from Hell

My last choli post mentioned that I was busy this weekend. A few reasons why, but let's discuss the interesting ones.

For this post, let me introduce the next project via its fabric, a huge piece of fabulous fuchsia, and the issues that said fabulous fuchsia caused.

The fabulously and fantastically infuriating fuchsia fabric