This year Art Cloth Network met for our annual meeting in Austin, Texas and I made a delightful discovery right outside the door of our hotel. Greeting me and my fellow members was a patch of prickly pear cactus and riding their backs was a very special insect in the natural dye world, the Cochineal. Cochineal is a tiny, white scale insect that sucks sap and lives exclusively on this type of cactus. Because of its lifecycle, it is very exclusive and does not spread to other areas, so here was the patch and it will stay put making it a rare find indeed.
Here is the photo of the prickly pear I took in Austin, Texas
Why was I excited about this bug? The Cochineal scale insect is used to produce a valuable red dye that is still used in some parts of the world. When you squish one of these insects in your hand it stains it red or purple depending on the acidity of your skin. The dye industry will use an acid or a base to fine tune the desired color.
Oaxaca, Mexico still grows and harvests the insects and the gorgeous red color is greatly treasured. Here in the US, we have a variety of the insect that produces a red color, but it is often not as vibrant as that found in Mexico. Did I squish a bug to discover the depth of red color? No, I did not have the heart, but photographed it instead and am also offering in this blog photos from a trip to Oaxaca five years ago where I first encountered the insect.
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| The reds in these rugs was made using the natural Cochineal |
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