The prestigious history of pastel

Pastels have given Lauragais its letters of nobility. In the XNUMXth century, the region experienced an unprecedented boom thanks to the trade in this plant, exported throughout Europe. The countryside is then covered with castles, mansions, churches and dovecotes. Simple landowners become wealthy bourgeois, some even reaching the nobility. But did you know that in the past this plant was used to make a beautiful indelible blue dye? 

A BEAUTIFUL LAURAGE PLANT

« Isatis tinctoria » is its Latin name. Exploited since Antiquity, it was from the 15th century that it was truly cultivated in Lauragais. This plant is not difficult to grow: you can try it yourself in your garden or on your balcony!

Traditionally sown in open ground in February or in autumn, it likes rich, well-drained soils. Pastel a biennial plant (it has a two-year life cycle). The first year it produces leaves (a rosette) and the second it goes to seed.

The leaves that were harvested to make the blue dye had a particularity: they were edged with a purple color. This indicated that they were loaded with indigotine (name of the indigo pigment) and therefore ready to be used for dyeing. The harvest was done leaf by leaf by hand. In Lauragais, up to six harvests could be made from June to November, compared to four on average in the rest of France…

Once collected, the leaves were directly crushed under the pastel mill, driven by a donkey or a horse. Crushed, they were then drained and after a week, and after being stirred very frequently to prevent the appearance of mold, they were molded by hand to form "shells" (balls the size of a large lemon). The Cockayne country it is therefore the place where these famous shells were fashioned!

These shells were then placed in a ventilated room on a pastel dryer: wire shelves called " hurdles ". The drying could take several months. All the water had to evaporate and the ball had to harden.

FROM SHELL TO DYE

You guessed it: the transformation process was long and tedious. The reason is quite simple: the indigo pigment is not soluble in water. A chemical reaction had to be obtained by fermentation so that it can permanently impregnate the fabrics.

When the shells were finally dry, they were powdered using a mallet. The powder was placed in a tiled vat dug into the ground. It was moistened and stirred regularly to cause a second fermentation This gave us a paste (hence the word "pastel"). which was turned over twice a week with a shovel. This stage lasted several months and… gave off a nauseating smell! This is why this transformation process was kept away from the cities: it probably took place on farms scattered throughout the countryside.

Once this second fermentation was complete, we finally obtained a dark blue-grey material: the agranate. The latter comes from the Occitan word "agranar" which means "to crush", because indeed, it had to be reduced to a very fine powder to use it in the dye vats.

It is often written that the Indigo tree (Indigofera tinctoria), a tropical plant from America, has wiped out the cultivation of pastel. Beware of these " on dit ", because there is nothing more false than this statement.

Pastel & Indigo, united like the fingers of a hand

From the second half of the 16th century until the middle of the 19th century, the pigment indigo, from the plant Indigofera tinctoria, was added to the pastel vat.

Pastel, prepared in this form, had a double utility:

• He brought some of the blue dye
• It made the indigo pigment soluble thanks to bacteria and sugars which came from the two fermentations it had undergone.

The addition of Indigofera tinctoria in the vat brought an additional blue dye much more concentrated than the pastel.

YELLOW, GREEN THEN BLUE: THE MAGIC WORKS

The next step was to put water and a few grams of powdered agranate into a large wooden vat.

The fabric, dipped in the vat of pastel and indigofera, comes out yellow-green in the first few seconds.

Gradually, with the oxygen in the air, it takes on this beautiful blue color.

The final blue color will be obtained when the fabric is dry.

To obtain a dark blue dye, it was enough to dip the fabric several times in the vat. After the first bath, it came out yellow, turned green then, quickly by oxygenating itself, became blue.

THE DECLINE OF BLUE GOLD

Pastel reached its peak in the middle of the XNUMXth century. Unfortunately, several concomitant events will put an end to this great success:

• Bad harvests
• Wars of religion

Seeing the economy of pastel collapse from year to year because of competition with indigo, Henry IV took a radical decision on August 27, 1598: he banned its use in dyeing operations. But this ban was lifted a few years later.

In the middle of the 19th century, the invention of sodium hydrosulfite made the addition of fermented pastel to dye vats completely unnecessary. But this chemical reducer, used throughout the world today in the textile industry, is a real scourge for the environment and health.

THE RENAISSANCES

Pastel has experienced two revivals in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries:

• Under Napoleon, thanks to the continental blockade with England : since dyeing materials are no longer available, the emperor encourages the production of French pastel in order to dye army uniforms. An indigoterie is also created in Toulouse, but the production remains at the artisanal stage. Years pass… and the Empire collapses!

• In 90 years, a Brussels couple, Henri and Denise Lambert, fell in love with this beautiful plant. The recipe for the dye having disappeared, they are doing research to find it and develop a new process to extract the color.

Finally, also know that since 2003, four patents have been filed by a pastel research institute. The seeds, cold pressed, give a anti-oxidant cosmetic oil (limiting the aging of the skin) and very moisturizing. All you have to do is test it on your skin !

To discover

Pastelier heritage

Pastel crafts

Isatis' counter

Loubens-Lauragais, in the land of pastel

Montgeard

Itinerary in pursuit of blue gold