August Meeting

We were back at Brigitte's again for one more try on the Indigo Dyeing.  The day was warmer but smokey so the vat was prepared indoors.  Great care was taken to make sure no dye was splashed or dripped.

Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive blue color. Historically, indigo was a natural dye extracted from the leaves of certain plants, and this process was important economically because blue dyes were once rare.

The vat 

Look at that dark blue!

While we waited for the vat to be ready we learned some shibori folding techniques.

Shibori (しぼり / 絞り) is a Japanese manual resist dyeing technique, which produces patterns on fabric.

Brigitte sewing her pattern.  

Folded, clamped and ready to dye.

Into the vat!

It doesn't take long in the vat, carefully put in and squeezed to spread the dye throughout the damp fabric and then outside to batch.  The dyed fabric comes out a lovely greenish colour and changes to the indigo blue as the oxygen in the air reacts with the dye.  For darker blues you simply repeat the process.  We let them sit in the bundles for awhile and then the unrolling started.

Beautiful results!

Now what will we do with this beautiful fabric?  For more information check out these websites:

https://honestlywtf.com/diy/shibori-

https://closetcasepatterns.com/indigo-shibori-dyeing-techniques-tutorial/

www.grahamkeegan.com/indigo-vat-basics/  More than you really need to know!