I did a few experiments to see if I could get scarlet with cochineal and a yellow as straight cochineal even with an acid modifier does not get you there.
The silk and wool were mordanted separately with 25% potassium alum sulfate. The recipes were cochineal and Osage orange 10%, cochineal 10% Osage orange 5%, cochineal 10%, Osage orange 2%, a separate experiment with calcium nitrate, cochineal 10% quebracho yellow 10%, cochineal 10% Himalayan Rhubarb 5%. The cochineal was powder from bugs.
The most successful was cochineal 10%, Osage orange 5% on silk. I also liked the cochineal Himalayan rhubarb on wool.
Below are the Osage orange variations. The top one is the the one with the most Osage orange; bottom one with the least.
And, the calcium nitrate experiment, quebracho yellow, Himalayan rhubarb, top to bottom.
I finally put all of these on cards. The recipe that was the most successful Cardinal red was the Osage Orange at 2%
