SAMPLE Finding Blue Copyright 2007 by Catherine Cartwright Jones Published by Tapdancing Lizard LLC All rights reserved. Finding Blue Learn more

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1 SAMPLE Copyright 2007 by Catherine Cartwright Jones Published by Tapdancing Lizard LLC All rights reserved.

2 Index: Part One: History of Blue Foreword Lost Celtic Blue The Miracle of Saint Brigid Indigo as Body Art Beyond the Celtic World Step Forward into Blue References Part Two: How to Find Blue The Vat: the secret of Blue Why Was Blue Lost? Make the Vat What Do You Need to Find Blue? Use the Vat Apply Blue Stain and Skin Darker Skin Full Body Blue Part Three: Learning to Blue Practicing Blue Begin with Simple Motifs: Spirals Leaves Use Diminishing Stain as a Creative Tool Flowers Knots Beasts Gilding and Gems Part Four: Patterns

3 Sample Chapters from Sample of Lost Blue: the history of blue body art Lost Blue: When the Romans invaded Britain in the first century, they reported seeing people with blue body markings. Very few historical records of the blue people still exist from the Roman period, and none from earlier eras. What little remains gives a tantalizing glimpse into what may have been a widespread, complex and culturally significant ancient tradition in the Celtic world. A few scholars have recently turned their attention to the Roman records describing insular Celtic (Britain, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales) skin decoration. The texts clearly describe people with blue markings, but there is no consensus of whether these were paint, tattooing, or staining (or a combination of these.) Figure 1: Omnes vero se Britanni vitro inficiunt, quod caeruleum efficit colorem. Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico V Gillian Carr, (2005) in Woad, Tattooing and Identity in Later Iron Age and Early Roman Britain provides evidence that woad was the source of Celtic blue body art. This work also cites Roman manuscripts which mention the color and character of Briton body art and provides the following translations from the Latin: Caesar, De Bello Gallico V, xiv mid-1st c. BC All the Britons dye their bodies with woad (vitrum), which produces a blue colour, and this gives them a more terrifying appearance in battle. From a first century Celtic warrior s point of view, woad may have been functional, as well as a cultural tradition. Woad is anti-bacterial (Hamburger, 2002) and anti-microbial (Yang, Wang, Yang et al 2004). My personal experience is that it repels gnats and small insects. Though I have not done any comparison tests, injuries sustained while woading might heal more quickly and with less infection if woad stains deter infection. Though many translators of ancient text believe Caesar s account refers to warriors being completely stained blue, I believe climbing into a woad vat would be unlikely (that would require a great deal of woad to prepare a tub-sized vat) and daunting to climb into (a vat made fresh from woad, isatis tinctoria, vat reeks of sulfur, rotten

4 cabbage and urine.) In comparison, one ounce of woad vat (one shot glass full) provides enough dye to cover an adult s body with patterns. A small amount of dye is more easily prepared, and a small amount of stench is easier to bear. A patterned body surface in combat, such as is provided with camouflage paint and clothing, provides cover by disguising the body s dimensions and movements. Warriors patterned in blue would have been obscured if approaching from woodland towards a battlefield (more so than solid blue warriors), and a group of patterned warriors would have been disorienting in battle, in the same way that one in a group of zebras is difficult to track because striped patterning camouflages individuals moving within the group. Ovid, Amores II, 16, BC+ I can t think this is my home, this healthy Sulmo, my birthplace, my ancestral countryside, but wastes of Scythia or woad-blue Britain (viridesque Britannos) or the wild rocks Prometheus red blood dyed. (Carr, 2005) Propertius, Elegies II, xviiid, late 1st c. BC Do you still in your madness imitate the painted Britons 1 4 and play the wanton with foreign dyes upon your head? All beauty is best as nature made it: Belgic 1 colour is shameful on a Roman face. If some woman has stained her forehead with azure dye, is azure beauty on that account to be desired? (Carr, 2005) Ovid links Britain with blue-staining woad, but the statement has other implications. The Celts continued their blue body art traditions during Roman occupation. Ovid places the speaker as an expatriate in a foreign place, uncomfortable with the blue stained people and the British climate. Romans stationed in outlying regions of the empire (by government position, commerce or military endeavor) seem to have not been pleased to be away from home, and were often disdainful of those whom they had conquered and colonized. Figure 2: Is azure beauty to be desired? The verse from Propertius Elegies indicates that while most Romans disdained the blue body art as shameful and unnatural, against the Roman cultural norm, some Roman women living in the colonial outposts were trying out their neighbors woad, perhaps associating it with exotic, wanton, uncivilized sexuality, or freedom from Roman codes of female virtue. He mentions patterns on the face: woad vat stains the face easily and the stains can last for three weeks 2. 1 Belgic refers to the Belgae, a Celtic group living in what is now Belgium 2 Though woad vat seems to have been widely used for facial patterning, Ancient Blue is a highly concentrated, very alkaline form of the vat and should not be used be used near the eyes, mouth, or on sensitive skin.

5 Apply Blue Sample of How to : instructions for blue body art Figure 3: The dye will be deep green when it first touches the skin, then it will turn dark blue. Work quickly. The dye in the brush will oxidize in less than a minute. Then, you ll need to dip into the vat again. Make the first application loose and free, as if you are sketching. Don t worry about making mistakes. Much of the blue will rinse away. Figure 4: The first application is ready to wash away. Do not leave the Ancient Blue on the skin any longer than is necessary to complete the pattern. The stain won t get any darker with longer exposure. As soon as you have the first painting done, rinse off the superficial pigment.

6 Figure 5: Wash with plenty of water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid or soap. The excess rinses away quickly with water. Clear away the blue hazing with a little soap or a few drops of dishwashing liquid and lots of running water. Pat the skin dry with an old towel. Figure 6: The superficial pigment is rinsed off; the stain remains in the skin Now you can see how the skin is taking up the blue. Some areas have a dark stain, and some have a lighter stain. Some areas feathered and others held the lines firmly. Skin may resist the blue if toughened from the sun, or oiled with lotions. Soft skin which has been protected from the sun and wear takes up blue most easily and evenly.

7 Figure 7: Add depth and detail with your second application Skin is an uneven terrain. Work the skin s variation to your advantage: use the areas of stain and resistance creatively. Apply the second blue just as you did the first. Use the areas of darker stain to add detail and clarity, and the areas of lighter stain to let the pattern drift into the background. If you let the blue guide you, the finished work will have a rich natural appearance with subtle gradation like a watercolor painting. Figure 8: Rinse again to see the final stain. This blue will gradually fade in five to eight days. Many people say they wish they could keep the dramatic black color on their skin. The black will smear and rub off on clothing, and leaving it on the skin longer won t improve the stain. Leaving the black on longer may irritate the skin because it is alkaline. Blue doesn t conform to the rules of tattooing and henna. It has to be appreciated for its own subtle, unpredictable beauty.

8 Sample of Patterns

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11 You can order at $15 electronic download has a thorough discussion of the history of Celtic blue body art, the lost chemistry of woading, instructions for successful blue body art, step-by-step method of applying blue, and patterns.