Laundry Bluing

Before chlorine bleach was mass produced, homemakers kept whites looking bright by adding blue dye to their laundry. As synthetic blue dyes became commercially available in the Victorian era, “laundry bluing” was distributed to markets around the world.

Some cultures that previously had limited local access to blue colorants found creative uses for laundry bluing additives. The Naskapi, of Labrador, Canada, turned them into a paint for decorating caribou skin clothing.

Naskapi artists prepared paints with laundry bluing and traditional materials. Using a bone spatula as a brush, they would apply the paint to jackets, hats, and bags.

Penn Museum 31-7-7, 30-3-146