Lydia (in Philippi), the seller of purple dye, can introduce\nan interesting study of the different occupations of Bible characters. Lydia\nprobably used Whelks, large marine snails from which oil is\nextracted to use as a dye. The deep purple color was especially rare in Bible\ntimes and that is why only Royalty wore it. No one else could afford the\nvaluable coloring. People of ancient days were resourceful, using whatever they\nhad around them for nearly every purpose. Young students may think that all the\nbeautiful colors of fabrics from the Bible times were made by their box of\ncrayons. Plants, including vegetables and flowers, made perfect dyes as did\nnuts, bark, and mosses. Here is a suggestion for an activity but it uses hot\nwater, so be careful around young children. This craft makes a 3-D cornucopia\nof paper. Use a large brown sheet of construction paper rolled into a\ncornucopia shape and stapled together. For the items coming out of the\ncornucopia, cut pieces of plain or white cotton or muslin into shapes of fruits,\nleaves, or pumpkins, corn, etc. Make the cut outs large enough to allow for\nshrinking. Choose natural dye colors for your cornucopia items: grape juice,\ntomato juice, lemon and orange peel, beets, tea or coffee, boiled spinach\n(green). Flowers such as coneflower, red cabbage, or pansies can be used for\npink shades. The dye will set best if the vegetable or fruit is heated in\nboiling water. This can be done at home and the mixture cooled before bringing\nit to class. The dye will not be as strong as it will if you drop the cotton or\nmuslin into the boiling dye. Whichever you do, after the fabric has been\nstirred through the dye to the desired color, add two tablespoons of vinegar to\nthe dye to help the color set. Remove the cloth with tongs, smooth it out on\nwaxed paper and allow it to dry naturally. It can be ironed after it is dry.\nFlowers, fruits, and vegetables can also be pressed or mashed directly onto the\nfabric if you don\u2019t want to use the boiling method. Darker colors like grape\njuice will take to the fabric cold just by dipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use the Wordless Book colors for the Cornucopia fruits and\nthen the centerpiece is also a witness\/conversation piece: black for sin; red\nfor the shed blood; white as snow; gold for Heaven; green for watch and pray\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a cornucopia is too much, the fabric can be cut into\nstrips, dyed to suit (use the Wordless Book colors), and then woven together\n(over and under) to make colorful place mats. The loose ends may be tied\ntogether in two\u2019s or place beads, feather, buttons, or fun foam cut outs over\nthe ends and glue in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7902","eutychus-article","type-eutychus-article","status-publish","hentry","category-eutychus"],"yoast_head":"\n