Tyrian Purple Kit Set

100% genuine Purple Dye replica kit set.

After years of experiments and research and at the demand of many of my friends around the world, I thought of putting together the main ingredients of this legendary dye in small elegant mini kits that would be ideal for workshops, lectures or presentations so that other people in other parts of the world can see and smell what these dyes looked like centuries ago!

Each of these mini wooden kits comes complete with:

1. A set of 3 murex shells the kinds historically used to produce the dye namely (from right to left in the attached photo) Purpura haemastoma, Hexaplex trunculus and Bolinus brandaris.

2. Some dried glands (the organ that actually yields the dye precursor inside the snail)

3. A capsule of nearly pure purple pigment that was in ancient times worth several times its weight in gold (for instance up to 100 pounds of fresh snails are needed to produce less than 1g of more or less pure pigment)

4. Small samples of dyed silk and wool (10 different hues in total)

If preserved properly, murex dyes and pigments remain vibrant and shiny for centuries and even intensify with time as the dyed stuff keeps interacting with the elements (precisely sun light).

These dye kits are available in limited quantities or on demand since the dye production is painstakingly slow and as I said I am just processing what little amounts of snails I use for my own family consumption.”