The baby vat:
I am so excited it works!
The strip I did today has better color, I think because the water is warmer.
Here is the post I did on the process last year with links to where I gathered information and inspiration. To recap what I did this year:
- I harvested a dish tub full of indigo (stripped leaves), filled tub with cold water and used an immersion blender to chop it all up.
- Strained off the water and dyed fabric and yarn with it.
- Placed the chopped leaves in a gallon glass jar, topped with water and placed a plastic bag with water on top as a weight to keep the leaves submerged.
- Forgot about it for way to long (over a month).
- Strained the leaves out and divided the liquid into 2 quart jars. Added a tablespoon or so of calcium hydroxide (I know I should have measured better).
- Shook it a lot, about 30 minutes off and on.
- One pint I filtered and have about 1/4 cup dry pigment. The other pint I added a couple tablespoons of fructose to (again, should have measured better).
- Let it sit for a couple days.
- Gave the vat a good stir, let it sit for about an hour and then put a test strip of fabric in.
Next year I want to make a batch where I use the water that the leaves are chopped in as the water the leaves are fermented in rather than dyeing with it to see if I have a different result.
Here is the first piece of fabric that I dyed as the center square for my Good Enough quilt.
I like the idea that this center square will be bigger...it will be easy to find when I go looking for it.