I have dyed with indigo many times in the past but this is the first time in many many years. The vat making process is much easier these days if you do a kit, and although it isn't the same as the long slow involved process of days past (which some die-hards, still do -- get it? hehe ). It is still indigo in my book.
So I started the other day by making up some bundles.
The Indigo Kit and a variety of cottons, tshirt, muslin squares, etc.
More folded, twisted, and otherwise scrunched muslin.
Then put off making the vat until today since this was supposed to be a cooler day (well, ok 89 compared to 90s or 100s).
There are a gazillion instructions for and information on indigo vats so I will not go into it here. I will list a couple of my favorites below or you can just Google it.
The indigo vat before use.
Things look green when they come out before they have oxidized into blue.
A few more results.
I got the indigo dye kit from Dharma Trading Co. HERE is their shibori (Japanese tie dye) info page.
HERE is one of the many Internet references you might enjoy to learn more about shibori.
These colors will be a bit lighter after I wash them which is fine. I was mainly testing out the vat making and how easy (or not) it would be to work in my backyard. Well and I wanted a few shibori pieces so I could make something. Been sewing a bit lately (more to follow on that).
So once again I have come full circle (hence blog title)... enjoying again some of the crafts I started out with in my 20s. Who knows, maybe now that I am no longer allergic to wool like I was for 40+ years I can get another spinning wheel and loom and really start over!
For now I have just found another thing that gives me joy to do in my retirement years. When did I ever have time to work?
You're no longer allergic to wool??? Gosh, I wish that was me. all I have to do is think about wool and I start to feel itchy. I'd love to do that Sue Spargo thing and actually ordered a book but donated it to MQG because it turned out that she worked in wool. Kathryn
ReplyDeleteNot anymore. You can do all of the Sue Spargo stuff in flannels too. Quilt stores have a lot of gorgeous ones. Thanks for reading the blog!
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