Natural Dye Workshop 6
Posted 7/3/2008 2:00pm by Eugene Wyatt.
Indigo Blue, Part 2: Basic blues
Yes your heart may pound, but the good thing about indigo is the color is layered by subsequent dips, each layer gets darker and is built upon the previous dip.
Light Indigo
It's hard to go wrong with indigo if you're patient and looking for a straight blue.
An indigo bath ready for yarn
Yarn coming from the spinnery has spinning oil on it. The oil must be washed and rinsed off; the washed yarn will be put into the indigo bath when it is wet. Washing is done in a machine by soaking the yarn (with no agitation) for 20 minutes in water containing a normal amount of laundry detergent. The washing machine spins the yarn between the wash and three rinses. Our machine will hold 8 pounds of yarn at once.
Lowering natural yarn into the bath
Eight 2 oz. skeins are tied together in a bundle. We may dye 2 lbs. at once with each finger holding on to a stringed bundle. The yarn is lowered, or dipped, into the bath; with a gloved hand, it is swirled to always keep it moving.
Swirling the yarn in the bath
The yarn is in the bath for about a minute then it is pulled. This first dip is to determine the strength of the bath by judging the intensity of the blue.
Pulling the yarn
The yarn comes out of the bath a teal green; when it contacts the air it oxidizes and turns blue before your eyes. Notice how the color has changed between the top of the skein and its bottom as it is pulled up.
We let the yarn drip back into the pot, then hang it on the overhead rack to oxidize. If we want a darker blue, we will dip the yarn again, oxidize it...and over again... The intensity of indigo blue is additive.
Dark Indigo
When we have arrived at a shade of blue we like, we will let the yarn oxidize longer, then wash, rinse and air dry it. Indigo is truly a forgiving color.
Next: Over dyeing with indigo, Laura's Ember
0 Comments »