I had a great day visiting my indigo plants out on the farm. That’s right. I have some indigo plants out at a farm in Brodhead. I am the luckiest person in the world!
It’s a long story that involves a possible Burning Man Global Arts Grant that was interrupted by the pandemic. N’uff said. I don’t like to dwell on the story because when I tell it, I sound like I’m complaining (because I am) and I don’t like to sound that way.
ANYHOOO! Today I harvested a bucketful and decided to try out the blender and ice method of dyeing.
I cheated in a huuuge way in that I measured nothing. I eyeballed it and it seems to have worked out fine so far.
I took a small bucketful of plants and removed the leaves. Then I filled a blender with ice water and the leaves and blended it all up. It reminded me of the green drinks I used to try to choke down during a very short and ill advised health food jag. I do love the smell of indigo plants, though.
Then I strained the liquid into a bucket. I froze the mush that didn’t go through the strainer to play with later.
I put some silk that I had scoured into water and then threw it into the juice. I don’t know what types of silk I used. A few months ago I bought a grab bag of silks from Dharma Trading Company to play with. It’s a variety pack of off cuts. Awesome for experimenting with.
Anyhoo, I didn’t stir it around. I wanted a cool looking chaotic pattern and that’s what I got. If I had moved the fabric around more the color would have been more solid. I let the fabric sit in the juice for about 30 minutes.
After I pulled it out I gave it a quick rinse.
The color is so vibrant, I’m very happy with it.
I really like this one, it’s soft and the pattern looks ethereal to me.
You don’t really need to be perfect to dye with indigo plants, you can play and have fun sometimes.