![]() (If you’re interested in one-stop shopping, an Indigo Shibori Kit with all of the necessary ingredients to get started on your own indigo vat is $49.95 from Botanical Colors.)ĭecide how much indigo to use based on the shade of color you want to achieve. ![]() Natural fabric (wool, silk, cotton, etc.A non-reactive cooking pot for your vat.2-quart Mason jar or heat safe container (or larger if you are making a larger vat).3 parts fructose crystals (250 grams of Fruit Sugar Fructose Powder is $8 from Botanical Colors).(250 grams of Calcium Hydroxide is $7 from Botanical Colors) 2 parts calcium hydroxide, also known as pickling lime, cal, calx.1 part natural indigo in powder form (100 grams of Organic Indigo is $19.50 from Botanical Colors).Based on recipes used in Morocco, India, and Provence, this vat recipe uses natural agents such as dried and fresh fruits, minerals, and flavonoids (the natural pigments in plants).Ībove: Indigo dyed wool by Cara Marie Piazza.Ībove: An indigo vat ready to be rebalanced.Ībove: A textile that’s just been taken out of the vat looks teal green.Ībove: Slowly, the textile turns a deeper shade of indigo as it reacts with the air.Ībove: The finished product in a deep shade of indigo. Now for a bit of a science lesson: In order for indigo to release its dye molecule, and attach itself to fibers and bond, excess oxygen must be removed from the molecule this particular vat uses the chemical reaction between a mineral alkali and a natural reducing agent to do so (a process called reduction). But after a studio visit with textile artist Cara Marie Piazza, I think it seems well worth tackling and not as complicated as I once thought.Ĭara shared with us her recipe for creating an easy indigo vat, a recipe passed down to her by Kathy Hattori, whose website Botanical Colors is an excellent resource for natural dyeing.Ībove: A vat of indigo dye in Cara’s studio. It’s been found in ancient Egyptian mummy wrappings and was so valued by the Romans as a luxury product, the story goes, that the only people who knew how to dye with indigo were hidden away in the forest.īecause of its weighty history, I always imagined that indigo was too hard to work with at home. Indigo is an ancient color, a natural dye extracted from a plant of the same name, and the only true blue dye in nature. Icon - Check Mark A check mark for checkbox buttons. Icon - Twitter Twitters brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - Pinterest Pinterests brand mark for use in social sharing icons. flipboard Icon - Instagram Instagrams brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - Facebook Facebooks brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - Email Used to indicate an emai action. Icon - Search Used to indicate a search action. Icon - Zoom In Used to indicate a zoom in action on a map. Icon - Zoom Out Used to indicate a zoom out action on a map. Icon - Location Pin Used to showcase a location on a map. Icon - Dropdown Arrow Used to indicate a dropdown. Icon - Close Used to indicate a close action. Icon - Down Chevron Used to indicate a dropdown. Icon - Message The icon we use to represent an email action. Icon - External Link An icon we use to indicate a button link is external. Icon - Arrow Right An icon we use to indicate a leftwards action. If you want to learn how to dye your own fabric and yarn using natural indigo my online course has all the details.DIY: Indigo Dye with Cara Marie Piazza - Gardenista Icon - Arrow Left An icon we use to indicate a rightwards action. The colour is also more intense - which is an added benefit of the whole part. Whereas the fructose vat can be revived and heated gently again and again. With the iron indigo vat I had to keep starting again. ![]() I’ve been able to update and refresh the vat as needed over the past months. It’s been easier to keep it tended and the colour results are more consistent. Recently I started using a fructose vat rather than an iron vat. I wanted to share some of the hues from my indigo vat. ![]() Indigo is green until it oxidises which makes it more magical. I find that when I dye with indigo I spark up with the results as soon as they come out of the dye pot. We are from the depths of the ocean, so there must be some blue still in our hearts and minds. I love blue and do feel it must be in our bodies, even if our blood isn’t blue. ![]() Octopuses are super cool, which their 8 arms, 3 hearts and 9 brains!īut really I’m talking about fabric dyeing with indigo. Only horseshoe crabs and octopuses have blue blood. I always had some romantic notion of the ‘old fashioned’ idea of blue-blooded aristocrats. So, have you ever heard the myth that blood is blue? I have too. ![]()
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