Fresh Leaf Indigo Dyeing Sunday, September 15th 1-3 PM
Join us on the farm for this true blue indigo workshop. Take home a beautifully naturally dyed bandana and some indigo stems to start rooting for you next springs Indigo garden .
During the workshop you will learn the quicker method of dying indigo with fresh leaves using the “salt rub” method versus the traditional way of indigo dyeing by fermenting the leaves. Fresh leaf dyeing is the perfect technique to easily reap the blue rewards from plants. The resulting colors range from a light sky blue to sea foam aquas and jades. Fresh leaf dyeing has the advantage of no required additives or auxiliaries as well as the benefit of not requiring reduction (a process in vat indigo dyeing where the oxygen is ‘reduced’ from the dye bath making the indigo soluble and accessible, allowing the blue pigment to bind to fiber through oxidation- exposure to oxygen once removed from the vat). Fresh leaf dyeing skips this whole process and allows the dyer (if working quickly!) to directly dye fiber. The simplicity of fresh leaf indigo dyeing makes this method highly recommended for ease of process and smaller quantities of indigo plant matter. The leaves were looking so lush this September that I knew that we had to dye with them soon. It was now or never! Soon we will have a frost and it will be too late…
There will only be 8 openings for program due to the amount of indigo necessary for this method.
*Participants are asked to bring their own 12 inch or wider metal mixing bowl and a pair of garden scissors . All other items will be provided for this workshop.