Color of the Day - Mordoré

Mordoré, 1791 – by uniting thefe two mordants, alum and iron, we have mixed colours, inclining to red on the one hand, and to black on the other, fuch {such} as mordoré and puce colour. … various colours may be obtained from madder united with yellow fubftances. It is in this way, that mordoré and cinnamon colours are produced;
Elements of the Art of Dyeing, 1791

Mordoré, 1798 – Is a dark dirty Crimfon Red; a mixture of Crimfon and a little Brown.
Philosophy of Mineralogy, 1798

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
A Dictionary of Color in History
edited by Deb Salisbury
Available at www.Mantua-Maker.com

Color of the Day - Black and Dyers Black

Black , 1775 – abfence or want of light and colour, owing to a body’s reflecting no rays of light. Dyers black, for ftuffs of a high price, is compofed of indigo, woad, boiled with alum, tarter or afhes of lees or wine, maddered with common madder, and mixed with gall-nuts of Aleppo, copperas and fumach. The beft black cloth fhould be firft dyed blue.
Royal English Dictionary, 1775

Outtake from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
A Dictionary of Color in History
edited by Deb Salisbury
Available at www.Mantua-Maker.com

Color of the Day - Proserpine

Proserpine – The new colors of the season are chiefly intended for evening dress. … Proserpine-color is perhaps the newest of all; it is a dark but brilliant shade of crushed-raspberry, a good deal deeper than the hue, of that name, which was so fashionable a few seasons ago, but in the same gamut of tones.
Peterson's Magazine, April 1886

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
A Dictionary of Color in History
edited by Deb Salisbury
Available at www.Mantua-Maker.com

Color of the Day - Claie

Claie, 1600 – Item, one rounde kirtle of claie-colour satten, or terr’ sigillata, enbrodered all over with flowers of Venice silver and blacke silke. {Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe}
Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, 1823

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
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Colour Language: 1904

We have a colour language, but it is not accurate. We all begin our existence by feeling an interest only in self, and by taking the mouth as our centre. And even when, grown older, we show an interest in the doings of our neighbours and the aspect of things near us, we still give evidence that our own mouth is our starting point of interest and comparison. Take up a book of sample papers, and observe the names you give to the colours. “This is lemon colour,” you say; “and here is cream colour, and blue, and crushed strawberry. And that is biscuit colour, and here are orange, cherry colour, and chocolate.” You may not mention “salmon colour” or “oatmeal,” or “applegreen,” &c., yet, almost certainly, many of your colour names will be taken from the orchard and the larder. We note this tendency even in Chaucer, who said that one thing was “as white as Maine bread,” and another “as green as a leek.” The simple woman, then, and the great poet make colour names by comparison, and very good and forcible names they are. But we do not stop here. Fashionable dressmakers have given us a new vocabulary, and many of their names appear to have their origin in mere caprice. They change so rapidly, too, that we cannot be sure very long of their meaning. “Réséda” was once green. Now it is a kind of blue. Ecru may mean one thing to one person – another thing to other persons. It would be just as reasonable to teach a perishing dialect, instead of the English language, as to teach this new colour vocabulary of an hour.
Education Through the Imagination, 1904

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
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Aniline dye, 1876

Aniline , 1876 – The Most Beautiful Colors are made by the use of Leamon’s Aniline Dyes. They are strongly con­centrated solutions, and one bottle will color an astonishing amount. No other dye-stuff approaches then in ease and simplicity of use, and none are so economical. If you have anything you can save by making the color as good as new, give them a trial. Very full directions with each package, for all uses. The colors are remarkably fast and brilliant. Any shade or color can be made. All druggists sell them.
World of Fashion, May 1876

Outtake from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
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Color of the Day - Sage

Sage, 1900 – Sage Green. Interpretation: Lifelessness, inanity, also Vulgarity, Coarseness, Vileness.
Auras and Colors, 1900

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
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Color of the Day - Claret

Claret, 1900 – Moody, Distrust, Suspicion, Weakness, Passion.
Auras and Colors, 1900

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
edited by Deb Salisbury
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Color of the Day - Antwerp blue

Antwerp blue, 1900 – Beauty, Power, Nobility, Integrity.
Auras and Colors, 1900

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
edited by Deb Salisbury
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Color of the Day - Khaki

Khaki, 1883 – an earthy or grey clay colour, now largely used to dye the uniform of soldiers. “Khaki” is the name given to a sect of Vaishnava Hindus founded by Kil, a disciple of Krishna Das. They apply ashes of cowdung to their dress and persons, hence the name of khaki given to them.
Economic Products Of India, 1883

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
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Color of the Day - Abraham

Abraham, 1600 – Abraham-colour, supposed to be a dingy yellow. Archdeacon Nares thinks it a corruption of auburn, which was sometimes written abron, … but the greater probability is, that Abraham was depicted in the old tapestries with a yellow, or rather an orange tawny, beard, and hence that colour, or something resembling it, derives its name.
Glossary and Etymological Dictionary, 1834

Abraham, 1602 – in an old play called Blurt Mafter Conftable, or The Spaniard’s Night-Walk, 1602: “over all, / A goodly, long, thick, Abraham-colour’d beard.”
The Plays of William Shakspeare, 1793

excerpt from:
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Color of the Day - Electrum

Electrum – In Homer and Hesiod this word means amber. Pliny says that when gold contains a fifth part of silver, it is called electrum. Its colour was whiter and more luminous than that of gold, and the metal was supposed to betray the presence of poison. Specimens are rare.
Dictionary of Words Used in Art and Archæology, 1883

out-take from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
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Color of the Day - Venetian scarlet

Venetian scarlet, 1797 – There are three kinds of fcarlet, viz. that dyed with kermes, with cochineal, and gum-lac. The firft, called Venetian fcarlet, is leaft bright, but more permanent, and lefs apt to be fpotted than the others; infomuch that in fome pieces of tapeftry done with this at Bruxelles in Flanders, it has fcarce loft any of its vivacity in 200 years. However, it is fcarce ever ufed except for tapeftry,
Encyclopædia Britannica, 1797

excerpt from:
Elephant's Breath and London Smoke
edited by Deb Salisbury
Available at www.Mantua-Maker.com