Talk:Donegal tweed

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Intro

Latest comment: 6 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Something is very wrong with the introductory paragraph:

"Donegal has for centuries been producing tweed" — not factually wrong, because it has been about 2 centuries, i.e. plural, but it implies a much longer history without ever saying just how long.
"Sheep thrive in the hills and bogs of Donegal" — sounds more like the beginning of a novel, or an ad.
"indigenous plants such as blackberries, fuchsia, gorse (whins), and moss provide dyes" — in a country that has famously seen famine, edible berries are used as dye? Not likely, especially since berry dyes turn grey quickly. I know of no mosses that provide a dye worth mentioning, and the closest that gorse comes to dyeing is its distant relative, genista tinctoria, which ironically is indigenous to most of Europe.... except Ireland. And fuchsia – come on!
"distributed approximately six thousand flax wheels for spinning wool" — flax wheels for spinning wool makes no sense at all.

Is anyone knowledgeable enough to replace it with something that's correct? The best I feel up to is removing all of it. --Madame (talk) 14:04, 15 November 2018 (UTC) Dear Madame, Feel free to trim as you see fit. THe source for the "blackberries, fuchsia, gorse (whins), and moss provide dyes" was I think Hoad, Judith (1987) This Is Donegal Tweed.... And... Helland, Janice. "" A Delightful Change of Fashion": Fair Trade, Cottage Craft, and Tweed in Late Nineteenth-Century Ireland." The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies (2010): 34-55. (p47) Quotes the Times as saying that for Donegal Tweed the dyes were "mostly local products - a red-brown made of the lichen crotal' found on the rocks, a yellow made of heather, a light brown peat soot - but indigo and madder" were also used or, alternatively the "natural shades of the wool, black and white," were "combined in various designs" (March 14, 1896)...Might there be a mix up of lichen and moss?. On flax and wool wheels I am not sure but I think one can spin wool on a "flax wheel" quite happily (it might be a treadle wheel with a flyer)... and ...anyway Best wishes, (Msrasnw (talk) 16:39, 15 November 2018 (UTC))Reply

Looking in Hoad - she says that a Maire McNulty of Kilcar spoke of using fuschia flowers for red... but notes no-eone else did.....on moss - Rock moss - a kind of lichen is mentioned ... And orchil bearing lichens - Ochrelechia tartura and Urceolaria calcarea ... used to make dyes....(Msrasnw (talk) 18:25, 15 November 2018 (UTC))Reply

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