What are they? Kermes is a scale insect. The females feed on the sap of evergreen oaks native to the Mediterranean region, namely the Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) and the Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos). 
 
How to dye with kermes: for the best results: heat a dye bath with kermes at a minimum of 20% WOF, and pre-mordant your fabric (wool) with an alum mordant (alum 24% and cream of tartar at 6%). We dyed our sample at 50% WOF
 
These parasites (the trees do not seem to suffer from them much) live on the sap of the oak trees and produce a red dye, also called "kermes", the source of natural red. The word "kermes" is derived from Persian or Turkish qirmiz or kirmizi (قرمز). Their red juice is a natural repellent for other insects and birds that love to feed on small grubs, and because they cannot move at all they are easy prey.
 
In the Old Testament, Kermes was used to dye wool a scarlet red called שָנִי in Hebrew,  a bright red, slightly orange color. The parasites were called תולעת שָנִי, scarlet worm or grub.
The term “scarlet” itself is a translation of the Greek word Kokkinos, which refers to the shape of the insect the dye is extracted from. 
 
In the old days, before Cochineal was discovered in the Americas, Kermes was the main staple to get scarlet red, but also then it was an expensive dye. It was typically a job for women and children to collect the Kermes that are hard to see for the naked eye. They then had to be steamed over vinegar and dried properly for storage.
 
Our kermes is handpicked in Anatolia and arrives dried and steamed. They come in a special packaging with 1 gram of content. The season to collect kermes is only during two months in the summer season, so when we are sold out, we have to wait an entire year for new stock.
 
 
Read more about Kermes in our blog.
https://www.suzannedekel.com/post/dyeing-with-kermes