The Art of Coloring Wood

Cochineal

Just like people, natural dyes have histories and some are much more fascinating than others. Cochineal has a complicated, compelling history and perhaps its most direct relationship to our own history is that it was used to dye the distinctively colored jackets of the “Redcoats”—the British soldiers we fought in the Revolutionary War.

But let’s back up a bit. Cochineal used for dying fabric and wood is actually the dried body of the female cochineal bug. This dried body looks like a dark silver peppercorn which, when finely ground and dissolved in hot water, produces a brilliant scarlet dye sometimes referred to as carmine. The female cochineal bug spends her entire life with her head burrowed into a nopal (opuntia) cactus, which we commonly refer to as a prickly pear cactus. It is incredibly labor-intensive to hand-harvest the cochineal bugs, and it takes roughly 70,000 bugs to make one pound.

Both cochineal and the nopal cacti are native to central and south America where the bug was used extensively for dying textiles a striking red color, especially within the Aztec culture. When Spanish merchants arrived in Mexico in the sixteenth century, they realized the value of the extraordinary red dye, influenced no doubt by the financial success that Portugal and France were having in exporting brazilwood from Brazil which produced a far less stunning red dye, and thus cochineal became a prized export, second to silver.

Consequently, the demand for cochineal exploded across Europe, inspiring pirates to loot ships that were ferrying the dried bugs back to Spain. Europeans fervently tried to figure out exactly what cochineal was, and they mistakenly assumed it was a dried berry. The French, English and Dutch were particularly zealous about discovering the “plant” that produced this berry, but the Spanish did not allow any foreigners into Mexico so the mystery remained for over two centuries! When it was finally discovered that cochineal was a bug that lived on the nopal cactus, there was a determined effort to bring both back to Europe. However, the cochineal bug is very fragile and the nopal cactus requires a highly specific climate in order to grow, so all attempts to transplant it to Europe failed.

If you want to keep the cochineal color exactly as you see it on your wood, you need to cover it with an acrylic finish because they dry very clear.

It is far cheaper to buy the dried cochineal bug and grind it yourself than to buy it in powder form. An electric spice grinder or coffee grinder works fine for this. After you’ve ground the cochineal, store it in an airtight container out of the sun and it will retain its potency indefinitely.

Remember to wear gloves, a mask and eye protection when working with potassium dichromate.

Recipe for Cochineal with Potassium Dichromate

1 tsp of finely ground cochineal

4 oz of hot distilled water

Slowly add one teaspoon of the cochineal powder to four ounces of hot distilled water while stirring continuously. Mix until the powder is dissolved. Strain it through a cone filter. There will probably be leftover sediment in the bottom of the cone, and this can be discarded. When the solution comes to room temperature, brush it onto the wood with a fifty percent overlap. Wipe off all excess. Let it dry thoroughly. Do not sand.

Recipe for Potassium Dichromate

½ tsp of potassium dichromate

4 oz. of hot distilled water

Slowly add ½ teaspoon of potassium dichromate to four ounces of hot distilled water while stirring continuously. Mix until the crystals are dissolved and then strain the solution through a cone filter. When the solution comes to room temperature, apply it to the wood with a fifty percent overlap. When thoroughly dry, apply a coat of finish before lightly sanding off the nibs.

Alder

Cherry

Mahogany

Maple (plain cochineal without potassium dichromate as a mordant)

Maple

Oak

Walnut

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Cochineal