A day dyeing...

I ventured on over to my friend iris's house to take advantage of the beautiful, balmy weather and do some natural dyeing. I feel the results were stunning! Mostly indigo, but there was also a pot of yellowroot and brazilwood on the stove. I didn't get much out of the yellowroot, but the brazil wood was lovely (there was another piece of silk not photoed here, but the color was fantastic), now I just need to post mordant the it with some alum to try and set the color a little more (brazilwood is not color/lightfast)...

My main focus, however, was indigo. I have become enchanted with it. I find it fascinating to watch it come out of the pot green and when the oxygen hits it, the color changes. It is amazing. Also, I think I am going through my own "blue phase", like Picasso.

So, with homemade peppermint medley herbal tea in hand we ventured outside to check on the indigo vats (they need to sit for an hour once prepared). We tried reviving an old one from our last adventure and started a new one as well. I am beyond pleased with the results, and must admit I quite like the dusty blue stain on my hands as a result!

Iris did some over-dyeing and played around with some different techniques, while I eagerly dip-dyed, as well as completely submerged some clothing and fabrics I brought. In my bag of things to dye were: clothes (linen pants, cotton tops... I am COMPLETELY in love with the striped shirt, I wish I had a before photo, but it was black and white striped), a canvas tote, silk to be over-dyed, since they were the end of our last indigo experiment and not very blue, and some cotton jersey, again to be over-dyed again with the indigo. The jersey fabric came out really nice, but I should have opened/refolded and dipped in the pot one more time. I will try to get a photo of the designs that came out on it soon!

Oh dear. I think I am addicted to dyeing with indigo.