May 26, 2026
Tag: Madder dye
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God, Glory and Gold vs. God, Glory and … Dead Bugs
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The cochineal is an insect slightly larger than a poppy seed. The bug’s carcass is the prime ingredient in creating a natural dye using carmine. Primarily a parasite, they are native to tropical and subtropical South America and up through North America and are collected from the pad of prickly pear cacti.
Past Article
March 21, 2024 6 Comments
In modern times, if a prize is the award for the best performance in a show, the winner would certainly be surprised to learn that his prize is a cake. That was not always the case. On the slave plantations in the early 19th century, a cake was often the prize. Cake was a rarity at that time, and the dance performances came to be known as cakewalks. Postcards help us understand how the cakewalk dance is a subtle mockery of the events in the big house.