The indigo dye process is a very natural organic experience, where the dye vats are treated with reverence as living things, and care must be taken not to unbalance the indigo brew. Its a slow dyeing process from preparation of the vats, washing and mordanting the fabric, manipulating the fabric with stitches, knots and folds, then the dyeing and post-dye treatments - rinsing, washing and setting.
It was a pleasurable process in a peaceful country setting with friends and gorgeous alpacas. And being the paper-obsessed person that I am, I was able to dye some paper as well.
Happy times!
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| The Indigo Vat, complete with the indigo 'flower' which indicates a healthy vat |
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| Jenai and Nicky unravelling Nicky's scarf after dipping in the vat, oxygenating the fabric so the dye turns its wonderful blue colour |
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| This is a t-shirt I concertina folded then bound. This photo shows it after a dip in the indigo vat. |
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| The finished t-shirt, the top of it was dyed without folding. I love the pattern the bundling created. Easy for me too as it didn't involve stitching! |
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| A close-up of the bundling pattern, you can see the string marks. |
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| Dyeing some paper |
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| The paper drying, the bubbles from the surface of the vat created beautiful patterns. I'll print onto these. |
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| A silk scarf that I indigo dyed over top of some eco-dyeing that I did. The circle patterns were made with glass beads and chick peas secured with rubber bands. |
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| Everyone admiring our combined indigo handiwork. |
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| And the Alpacas - the little brown one was born whilst we did the workshop. Too cute! |
