#dyeingwithindigo

I am so excited to share these pieces with you. This might be the beginning of a new phase of work in the studio. I am combining iron printing here with clay resist, layering color and quality of line. The first photo is an image of bandanas what were printed with an iron ink, using a stencil and screen method followed by dyes after: the greenest one dyed with indigo and weld, the second, just tannin, the third, with dye garden mullein. After this, these bandanas sat around for a while and were not picked up at markets. I wanted to see if i could layer another design overtop so I added more cacti spirits, this time hand painted with a clay resist paste. The second and third images are the bandanas painted with clay and the last two images are the finished products. Once dry I dipped them into an indigo vat and the indigo pigment will grab onto the cotton not painted in clay, the last handful of images illustrate the finished pieces. I am really happy with the results and will be hopefully making some shirts similar to this motif soon. They require so many steps that I hope are not cost prohibitive as I love the finished result and hope others do too! These pieces are in the shop at $68 and can be used as bandanas or hung on the wall, used on a spacial table or altar space. 

Growing indigo: This is the second summer I have grown the variety Persicaria tinctoria. I have a small plot, about 5′x3′ in my right of way by the street. The plants are now blooming beautiful hot pink flowers and collecting these leaves mid to late september will be my third harvest of leaves. With what I’ve grown I have been able to dye 3 shirts, a lb. or so of yarn, and attempt a pigment extraction process twice. The first time didn’t work, so I’ll harvest the last leaves after they are done going to seed and attempt the process again.The last three images show dyeing a shirt with the raw leaves, a very simple process, and what the wool yarn and silk looked like after a fresh indigo dye. Deep blues that indigo is known for come sfrom a fermented indigo while dyeing with fresh leaves gives different teal and greener hues like these. Next year, I aim to have more silk items on hand to dye, and get better at extracting the pigment from the leaves so I will have a shelf stable pigment for later on.