Pastel

Isatis tinctoria, or “pastel,” is a biennial indigo-bearing plant used in both painting and dyeing. This plant, with its myriad uses, was the source of wealth for the Pays de Cocagne for several centuries. Here is its history:

Botany: Herbaceous plant, indigo-bearing plant.

Pastel or Woad
Isatis Tinctoria: Greek name
Vitrum or Glastrum: Latin name for woad

Pastel is a biennial plant:
In the first year, the plant undergoes its vegetative cycle, during which the leaves accumulate pigment.
In the second year, it undergoes its reproductive cycle (flowering and seed production).

Types of woad
Dyer’s woad: 0.2% pigment
Wild Isatis: 0.04%
Hybrid Isatis: 0.09%

Production:
After harvest, the plants are dried—sometimes the leaves are harvested in several stages—and then taken to the mill for grinding.
The paste is piled up for an extended period and turned regularly to ensure an initial fermentation. It can then be kneaded and rolled into balls or pear-shaped mounds: the “cocagnes.” These are dried further.
The cocagnes are crumbled, broken up, and piled again; the pile is then sprinkled with water and turned regularly to ensure a second fermentation lasting several weeks. This process yields the agranat, ready for export.
The discovery of notarial deeds confirms that Lautrec was a trading center for bales of pastel in the 16th century, particularly at a place known as “La Pastelerie” at the foot of the current mill.

Pastel Cultivation:
This plant, with its taproot, is resistant to both summer drought and winter cold, and thrives in deep, rich, loamy soils. Pastel cultivation tends to deplete the soil, and during its heyday in the 16th century, livestock farming had declined considerably due to a lack of fodder.
The land was fertilized with “colombine” (pigeon droppings), which is one of the reasons why so many dovecotes can be seen in the middle of the fields throughout the Tarn region.

Dyeing in a vat:
Indigo (that is, the blue pigment found in indigo plants and pastel) is not soluble in water and therefore cannot penetrate the fibers.
The “vessel” process involves “reducing” (making soluble) the indigo in water, in an anaerobic (airless) and alkaline environment. Once reduced, the indigo turns yellowish. The term “vessel” is used because, in the past, this process was carried out in a wooden or enameled vat.


A bit of history…
From the Neolithic era through ancient times, the use of pastel dates back to ancient times.
Hemp fabrics dyed with pastel dating back to the Neolithic period have been found near Marseille.
The production of this pigment brought great wealth to the Southwest: the “golden triangle” of Toulouse, Albi, and Carcassonne operated at full capacity during the Golden Age —1462–1562—which saw the rise of powerful dynasties: the Assézat, Lancefoc, and de Bernuy families, the latter of which guaranteed payment of the ransom for Francis I, who had been taken prisoner by Charles V at the Battle of Pavia.

In the 16th century:
* The “pasteliers” were merchants. They traded in pastel.
* Master dyers were responsible for producing colors.
Indigo is, historically, the purplish-blue dye extracted from the leaves and stems of the indigo plant. The term “indigo plants” can refer to the indigo plant as well as pastel, knotweed, or gara.
Tropical indigo arrived in Europe in 1560.
The main royal manufacturing facilities were established at the end of the 17th century under Colbert, as part of his mercantilist policy.

Starting in 1664, Colbert imposed the first customs duties aimed at protecting French production and implemented a policy of protectionism. Indigo was then banned.

Cocagnes:
Cocagnes were used until the 19th century to produce agranat, which dyers used to prepare the blue vats. This agranat was produced by a second fermentation of the cocagnes after they had been crushed with wooden mallets or ground in a mill. After several weeks of fermentation, the pastel was ready for transport to dyehouses throughout Europe. Despite the slowness of this manufacturing process, the use of pastel offered the advantage of providing both a coloring agent and a fermentable material rich in bacteria, which was very useful for the reduction of indigo.

In 1737, Philibert Orry, Louis XV’s controller of finances, amended Colbert’s regulations on large-scale and permanent dyeing. This amendment introduced a major development in blue dyeing. Indigo, of tropical origin and much richer in indigotine—which had previously been banned by various regulations to preserve the flourishing pastel economy—was finally authorized in France and would soon be permitted throughout Europe.
Pastel would continue to be cultivated for over a century, but its sole role would be as a reducing agent in dye vats, which, by this time, were almost all supplemented with tropical indigo.

Following the discovery of reduction using sodium hydrosulfite by Paul Schützemberger and Felix de Lalande in 1869, pastel would no longer serve any purpose. It would disappear entirely from fields and dye works. The synthesis of indigo by Adolphe von Bayer, marketed by the German firm BASF in 1889, would even lead to the disappearance of tropical indigo from dyeing workshops.
Currently, sodium hydrosulfite is still used as a reducing agent for indigo in both industrial and artisanal dyeing. Along with synthetic indigo, these are major sources of pollution in the rivers of textile-producing countries, particularly in Asia.

After a century of complete obscurity, Mr. Gilbert Delahaye revived the Pastel plant in the Tarn region around 1975. Several years of research and experimentation enabled him to reconstruct a method for extracting indigo from pastel that had been developed in the early 19th century.

Source: Study by David Santandreu, “Pastel: From Myth to Reality.”

Animaux acceptés : Non

Sprache

• French

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