Ted,
There are some really good books out there that may help you. Most of the ones on the site I'm linking to are pretty good. A bit technical but full of good information.
They are also paperbacks which should lay flat enough for your reader.
http://www.imperial-purple.com/books.html
So many people today think that early dyes were all plant based. While many were, it was not just the plant extract that was used. Most processes involved the combination of three, or as many as 10 different things. Most of the things were minerals. It was the chemical reaction that occured between the mixed things that produced the color.
For example in many parts of the world the Cambriam layer of Willow, and willow like, trees mixed with urine and heated, produced a deep black color which could be used as a textile dye or a pigment for paint.
Another very important part of the dyeing process is the use of Mordants which was mentioned in a previous post. Almost all fiber dyes need a mordant to set the dye.
Mordants are commonly minerals such as the salts of aluminum, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Potassium and Sodium.
As was mentioned earlier different Mordants with the same dye would produce different colors. Heat and time are also important.
In my chemistry days I remember the professor going on and on about some of the things used for dyes and pigments. He used to talk about urine, feces, rotten things and the boiling of these just to watch the girls squirm.
One of the things that I remember most was the Fulling process. If your name is Fuller you may not want to know where your name comes from.
The names Fuller, Tucker and Walker are some of those names that come from what you did for a living like Fletcher and Mason.
Fulling, Tucking or in Scots Gaelic 'Waulking' is the name for the process of cleaning and preparing Wool cloth for dying and/or felting. It entails large wooden vats, Fullers Earth, (or fine dicotomous clay) and all the urine collected from all the slop pots of an entire village. In goes the raw wool cloth, the fullers earth and the urine. Then you climb in and "walk" on it for about four hours.
The chemical process was due to the ammonium salt content of the urine combing with the aluminum silicate of the Fullers Earth to break up the oils on the wool releasing the dirt.
Originally Posted by Steve Ashton
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