Kermes consists of the dried bodies of a small scale insect, Coccus ilicis, found principally on the ilex oak, in the South of Europe. It is said to be still in use in Italy, Turkey, Morocco and other places.
William Morris speaks of the "Al-kermes or coccus which produces with an ordinary aluminous mordant a central red, true vermilion, and with a good dose of acid a full scarlet, which is the scarlet of the Middle Ages, and was used till about the year 1656, when a Dutch chemist discovered the secret of getting a scarlet from cochineal by the use of tin, and so produced a cheaper, brighter and uglier scarlet."
Kermes is employed exactly like cochineal. It has a pleasant aromatic smell which it gives to the wool dyed with it.
The following recipe for its use is from an old French dye book:—
20 lbs. of wool and ½ a bushel of bran are put into a copper with a sufficient quantity of water, and suffered to boil half-an-hour, stirring every now and then. It is then taken out to drain. While the wool is draining the copper is emptied and fresh water put in, to which is added about a fifth of sour water, four pounds of Roman Allum grossly powdered and two pounds of red Tartar. The whole is brought to boil, and that instant the hanks are dipped in, which are to remain in for two hours, stirring them continually. When the wool has boiled two hours in this liquor, it is taken out, left to drain, gently squeezed and put into a linen bag in a cool place for five or six days and sometimes longer. This is called leaving the wool in preparation. After the wool has been covered for five or six days, it is fitted to receive the dye. A fresh liquor is then prepared, and when it begins to be lukewarm, take 12 oz. of powdered Kermes for each pound of wool to be dyed, if a full and well coloured scarlet is wanted. If the Kermes was old and flat, a pound of it would be required for each pound of wool. When the liquor begins to boil, the yarn, still moist, (which it will be, if it has been well wrapped in a bag and kept in a cool place) is put in. Previous to its being dipped in the copper with the Kermes, a handful of wool is cast in, which is let to boil for a minute. This takes up a kind of scum which the Kermes cast up, by which the wool that is afterwards dipped, acquires a finer colour. The handful of wool being taken out, the prepared is put in. The hanks are passed on sticks continually stirring and airing them one after the other. It must boil after this manner an hour at least, then taken out and placed on poles to drain, afterwards wrung and washed. The dye still remaining in the liquor may serve to dip a little fresh parcel of prepared wool; it will take some colour in proportion to the goodness and quality of the Kermes put into the copper.
Another Recipe for Dyeing with Kermes.—The wool is first boiled in water along with bran for half-an-hour (½ bushel of bran for 20 lbs. of wool) stirring it from time to time. Drain. Next boil for 2 hours in a fresh bath with a fifth of its weight of alum and a tenth of Tartar. Sour water is usually added. It is then wrung, put into a bag and left in a cool place for some days. The Kermes is then thrown into warm water in the proportion of 12 oz. to every pound of wool. When the liquor boils, a handful of waste wool is thrown in, to take up the dross of the Kermes, and removed. The wool is then put in and boiled for an hour. It is afterwards washed in warm water in which a small quantity of soap has been dissolved. Then washed and dried.
"To prepare wool for the Kermes dye, it is to be boiled in water with about ⅕ of its weight in alum, and half as much of Tartar, for the space of two hours and afterwards left in the same liquor four or five days, when being rinsed, it is to be dyed in the usual way with about 12 oz. of Kermes for every pound of wool. Scarlets, etc., given from Kermes, were called grain colours, because that insect was mistaken for a grain. Wool prepared with a nitro-muriatic solution of tin (as is now practised for the cochineal scarlet) and dyed with Kermes takes a kind of aurora, or reddish orange colour."—Bancroft.
COCHINEAL
The dried red bodies of an insect (Coccus Cacti) found in Mexico are named Cochineal.