Talk:Woad

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[edit] species

Isatis indigotica is incorrectly used as a synonym for Isatis tinctoria, but it is not simply an incorrect name, it's a separate species in its own right. Isatis indigotica is a Chinese species. 67.168.59.171 (talk) 22:41, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] myths

It might be prudent to include a blurb discounting the legend that woad made warriors especially fierce or insensitive to pain.

Here's an example quote taken from a web site:

"The blue part of the Woad is not any sort of hallucinogen, despite lore to the contrary. The raw sap crushed from fresh Woad leaves sometimes causes surface skin numbness, slight dizziness, and in certain bloodlines, a vague impression of less danger or more confidence. Since the preparation process for Woad dye required some form of ammonia or fermentation to "fix" it, there is some evidence that horse urine was used in ancient times. If this is the case, warriors using the dye may have carried something of a stink."

Taken from: http://members.aol.com/methosela/WOAD.htm Please don't add this information as is since I dont know the site owners reprint policy.Xiaou 23:46, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Here's some interesting text from a writer who has tried woad as a body paint, and it didn't work: [[1]] . Cavort 19:54, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I've experimented with woad - it fails miserably as body paint and tattoo pigment. It can create horrible scars. Tattoo artist Pat Fish had some bad experiences with it, IIRC. It stains the skin less than does food coloring (which is what many of the Re-enactment groups actually use for their "woad" body paint). I worked with a number of people over the years to test different formulas, trying to try get it to stain the skin, and we never got it to work very well. It also never caused numbness, confidence, dizziness, or induced any sort of spiritual, religious or hallucinogenic state - and the group of test subjects were all the sorts who were inclined to want to experience that sort of thing from it ;-) So, yes, I've added some of the debunking and sourced it to the article Cavort suggests above. I still use woad for painting on wood and fabric, but not on skin. ~ Kathryn NicDhàna ♫♦♫ 07:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)