The name was coined by George and Cuthbert Gordon who applied for a patent in 1758 which came about after George, a coppersmith from Banffshire, while mending a copper boiler in a London dye-house, noticed an orchil dye being used which was similar to his native crottles in the Highlands. His brother Cuthbert was a dye merchant in Leith.
It was later a major industry in Glasgow promoted by George Macintosh (1739-1807) of Dunchattan
Corkir (Scotland), Korkje (Norway)
from Guide des Teintures Naturelles
Dominique Cardon et Gaëtan du Chatenet,
Delachaux et Niestlé 1990 ISBN 2 603 00732 7
Have a look for yourself.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the orchil and cudbear industries were
indistinguishable and here is a recipe used in the mid-twentieth century
by Johnsons of Hendon who made cudbear from Roccella montagnei from
Madagascar ...
The lichens are not washed or ground up; they are first boiled with
an ammonium carbonate solution, cooled and placed in glazed stoneware sinks
about three feet by eighteen inches by twelve inches deep. Ammonia is then
added and they are turned and kept in the right state of dampness for three
or four weeks. Finally the cudbear is dried out and ground into a powder.