What makes indigo dye

We have put together an interactive DIY and networking event where we will be dyeing scarves with natural indigo using traditional Indian Bandhani techniques. If you haven't signed up already, you can here.

This event is so special to me because it is the first USA x India cross-country collaboration! Because of this, the dye needs to be prepared before the event on the 25th. Don't worry about missing anything cool, you can check out our behind the scenes, pre-event dye preparation here with an explanation of the science used. The kits include pre-measured organic plant-based indigo, fructose, calcium hydroxide, also known as pickling lime, and small pebbles and string for creating bandhani designs.

There are two parts to preparing the indigo, and each part takes about 3 days, the first is preparing the stock, the second is preparing the vat. Empty the contents of the indigo packet into the bucket. Natural indigo powder is so dark, it is kind of like that impossible shade where you can't tell if it's black or really dark navy.

Add a tiny bit of water just enough to wet the indigo and create a paste. Indigo, unlike many other types of dye, is not water soluble but, it can absorb water. You can see in the photo how the indigo and water don't naturally combine, but with a little mixing, the indigo will start to absorb the water and a paste will form.

When the paste is ready it will look like the second photo. A little chalky and clumpy, but mostly mixed in uniformly. Next add about 3 quarts of water to the paste, slowly, and make sure to keep mixing as you add the water. As the indigo becomes more diluted the color will turn from blackish to more of a blue. Have you ever baked a cake and accidentally added all the flower in all at once, then no matter how much you stirred and stirred there were still lumps?

You might also want to rinse it in your final bucket with a little bit of vinegar to really get any excess dye off. This will minimise any crocking onto light coloured clothing! While dyeing with indigo does require a fair amount of preparation and care, the results you can achieve by playing with shibori techniques can be quite spectacular!

I often choose to use viscose, as opposed to cotton, as it remains soft after dyeing, making it ideal for a scarf or something similar. Viscose, like cotton or linen, is a fabric made from natural cellulose fibres and as such, takes the indigo dye quite well.

Cotton can be used to more hard-wearing items like pillow cases or bags, but you can also use wool and synthetic fibres. Some people might avoid using synthetics as the indigo can have trouble binding to these fabrics: they tend to have a tighter weave so the indigo molecules have less chance of getting lodged between the fibres.

However, dyeing synthetic fabrics is not impossible and can give interesting results. Part of the fun and charm of dyeing with indigo is in the experimentation! Denimhunters is a knowledge portal for denim enthusiasts and newcomers. Start your hunt here! Felix Pecarski is a denim enthusiast from London who now calls Stockholm home. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Sign me up for the newsletter! Looking for quality jeans and other well-made essentials? Always add the soda ash and sodium dithionite into the water. Never pour the water onto the soda ash or sodium dithionite! Always wear gloves and if possible, protective eyewear as soda ash is highly alkaline and will irritate if it comes into contact with your skin and eyes.

The end result should feature high contrast waves like these! May 26, Ruedi Karrer 4 years ago Reply. Congrats Thomas to your awesone indigo article!! Very interesting and inspireing. Write A Comment Cancel Reply. Step 4: Removing the bundles The bundles are drained and removed. The plants are used for fertilizer.

Step 6: The Beating Process Part One The water and lime must be beaten for about 20 minutes — dipping the bowl in and out — oxidizing the mixture. Step 7: Collecting the paste Part One Patricia prepares the cloth for paste collection. Step 7: Collecting the paste Part Two After the indigo paste precipitated to the bottom of the bin overnight, we carefully removed the brown water from the top. Step 7: Collecting the paste Part Three This is natural indigo paste, which can be stored in plastic bins for one to two years and used for dyeing later.

Step 8: Preparing the vat Dyeing takes place in the green form of indigo which is known, confusingly, as white indigo. Step 9: Tie Dye and Shibori Tie dye and Japanese Shibori are created by tying, rolling, stitching, and folding white cloth before dyeing.

Step Dyeing Part One Cloth coming out of the white indigo vat has a green appearance but quickly turns blue with oxidation. Step Dyeing Part Two Different shades of indigo after one or multiple dips in the vat. To Learn More…. Read More Articles About. Egyptian artifacts suggest that indigo was employed as early as B.

The dye imparts a brilliant blue hue to fabric. In the dying process, cotton and linen threads are usually soaked and dried times. By comparison, silk threads must be died over 40 times. After dying, the yarn may be sun dried to deepen the color. Indigo is unique in its ability to impart surface color while only partially penetrating fibers. When yarn died with indigo is untwisted, it can be seen that the inner layers remain uncolored. The dye also fades to give a characteristic wom look and for this reason it is commonly used to color denim.

Originally extracted from plants, today indigo is synthetically produced on an industrial scale. The name indigo comes from the Roman term indicum, which means a product of India. This is somewhat of a misnomer since the plant is grown in many areas of the world, including Asia, Java, Japan, and Central America.

Another ancient term for the dye is nil from which the Arabic term for blue, al-nil, is derived. The English word aniline comes from the same source. The dye can be extracted from several plants, but historically the indigo plant was the most commonly used because it is was more widely available. It belongs to the legume family and over three hundred species have been identified. Indigo tinctoria and I.

Therefore, a large number of plants are required to produce a significant quantity of dye. Indigo plantations were founded in many parts of the world to ensure a controlled supply. Demand for indigo dramatically increased during the industrial revolution, in part due to the popularity of Levi Strauss's blue denim jeans.

The natural extraction process was expensive and could not produce the mass quantities required for the burgeoning garment industry. So chemists began searching for synthetic methods of producing the dye.