Indigo adventures

[sstormwatch]

The adventure in indigo dyeing is worth noting a bit more here.

I bought a pound of freeze dried indigo from John Marshall, a respected artist in the Japanese traditions, when I took a class from him locally. I have never done any sort of natural dyeing before, and the freeze dried indigo he says is a lot simpler than normal indigo dyeing with all the extra chemicals. So I followed the instructions for a warm water indigo vat that he gave us, and now have some indigo twill linen hanging up to dry outside.

Some pointers for future reference.

• Do not sew the ends of the fabric pieces together. Instead zig-zag stitch each end to minimize fraying, and to allow the fabric to hang up properly.
• Make sure the fabric is washed twice, and final rinse at least twice if not more, or the fabric will have sizing still in it, along with detergent, and both impedes even dyeing on the fabric. We used rwfranz twill linen for the first fabric and he only washed and rinsed once, and his fabric looked great wet, but when it dried we could easily see the streaks and imperfections. I washed with Synthrapol last night, and rinsed three times before hanging again today for another dip.
• Rig up and use a pully system to make dipping easier.
• Make sure to only hang about 4 yards max on the hanger for dipping, as any more fabric gets too crowded and heavy, which impedes air flow which makes for splotchy fabric. At 6 yards it was harder to dye. I did manage to even out the fabric layout today which has made it a little easier for the dips and airings.
• Use only 1/4 lb of the freeze dried indigo in a trash can sized vat, not 1/2 lb. This makes for thinner indigo, which takes more dips for a good dye, but is less likely to crock off in the wash or later.
• Do not agitate hard when mixing the dye, as this adds air to the indigo which is a no-no. Pour water close to the surface, and mix gently so as little air gets into the batch. If too much air gets in, let it sit for awhile for the vat to rest.
• Dip and air several times to get a deep dye. The dye will be much darker wet than it will be dry.
• Deepest dye color will most likely be the first batch, so plan accordingly. Thankfully Roger wanted a deep dye on his twill linen.
• Only expect one batch of fabric to be done in a few hours per vat, because of the dips and airings in between, not to mention allowing time for it to dry off before taking it down. Silk may take less time as the fabric is thinner, but that is yet to be tested.
• Be sure to wear rubber gloves because even the dye removing stuff will leave trace dye under fingernails. I forgot my gloves this morning.
• Remember to use a plastic drop cloth on the floor to catch drips of dye. I thankfully bought a chemical level pvc drop cloth from a friend when his company was shut down. I had thought of using it for faire, but it's great to use for dyeing projects.
• Use more clips to hold the fabric than you think you need, by at least double. Fabric gets really heavy when it is wet.
• Read the instructions on the dye removal cream ReDuran and follow the instructions
• Use rubber gloves that are dedicated to dyeing. Once used for dyeing, household rubber gloves will now become dedicated dyeing rubber gloves because not all the dye will wash off, and we don't want blue dye all over the house
• Make sure the fabric is completely dry before bringing it into the house for rinsing, as little drops of wet dye will be all over the floor. Better yet, use a bucket to hold the almost dry fabric in the house.
• Don't fill up the boiling hot water pots too much, or you can't carry the load out. Make sure you can lift the pot full of water before you turn on the heat.

I have the indigo airing out on the twill right now, and I hope to be able to at least do one of my pieces of fabric today. But it looks like I will be dipping pieces during the week while the indigo lasts. It actually is a bit of fun, if messy, and kinda tiring on the arms as I clip the fabric onto the grid.

And I may update this later as I get more "tips" aka as I learn from my mistakes.