I know natural purple itself was difficult to obtain, but why didn’t they just mix red and blue? Were those also rare? Did it just not work?
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Until the 19th century you were dependent on what dyes you could find in nature, and was pretty arbitrary what you could find.
For purple the Murex snail was so rare that it was worth the Carthaginians travelling halfway down the Atlantic coast of Morocco to get hold of it
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaouira#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaouira#History)
As for blending, not all dyes are equal, your red and blue might require incompatible methods and take weathering, washing and fading differently.
it is not just a matter of getting the colour you want, but how you apply it, what you can apply it to, how long it lasts, etc etc
Blue could also be very expensive, aquamarine for example was so expensive it is why Mary the Mother of Jesus is often shown wearing that shade.
Crimson came from crushed beetles; saffron from the stamens of a particular flower that also made one of the most expensive spices.
There are cheaper alternatives, but they are not as good
It wasn’t until the 19th century that industrial chemistry made just about any shade you could think of available, including some that didn’t exist before
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauveine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauveine)
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