Indigo Series, Part 4: Overdyeing Linen & Silk Botanical Printed Scarves with Indigo

So this is it! The indigo season finale ... which started back in April of this year with sowing seeds, has resulted in a beautiful, all natural, indigo vat.
In this final edition of the indigo series, I'm overdyeing the botanical printed linen and silk scarves with my homegrown indigo with absolutely gorgeous results! The vat I'm creating uses henna and bananas for the sugars, with some fructose added a bit later to finish the vat's reduction. My extracted indigo paste was an excellent concentrate, so it ended up being a pretty strong vat.
A note to novice indigo dyers ... Using homegrown indigo paste adds a major level of the unknown to creating a vat. I would recommend working with purchased indigo powders or paste and getting familiar with how a vat works and balancing it before trying this on your own. However, once you get going, it's an exceptionally rewarding process and totally addictive.
A couple bits about the dyeing process …
~ I mentioned using a mordant on the linen scarves, a necessary thing for botanical prints on cellulose fibers, but a mordant is not needed for indigo at all and the protein fibers of silk don’t need it for botanical prints.
~ The silk overdyes we’re not shown in the video. But to dye the silk in the indigo vat, I added more fructose and allowed the vat to rest for a day to lower the pH closer to 10 to protect the fibers.
If you're interested in going down the homegrown indigo path, I would highly recommend the FB forum, Indigo Pigment Extraction Methods. They're a terrific group, super enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable.
Here's the link for my whole indigo series from planting to harvest to extracting the dye to this grand finale: • Indigo and natural dyes
The silk scarves are available for purchase on my website: kathyvankleeck...
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Background Music: Acoustic Meditation 2 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...) Artist: audionautix.com/ Support by RFM - NCM: • Video
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
#tendingahandmadelife #indigodyeing #homegrownindigo

[@rosemariestadnyk182]

Thank you for this wonderful video. I am learning so much from your Indigo process.

[@tendingahandmadelife]

Excellent! So glad they're helping ... happy dyeing!

[@danieljohnson6440]

Thank you so much for sharing that whole process, how wonderful

[@tendingahandmadelife]

And thank you for taking the time to watch and comment! 🙏

[@gypsylovn]

Beautiful! I’ve been plant dying for a couple years and also love silk the most. I’m growing my first patch of Japanese indigo and I’m so grateful for these videos! Thank you so much for the information and inspiration!

[@tendingahandmadelife]

Megan, you are so very welcome! It is a passion for sure. My own JI patch is currently struggling and I'm scrambling to keep it alive. Very concerned, but determined to have a good harvest later this year. Best of luck with your own patch.
If you're not already there, you might really enjoy this FB group ... they're an awesome bunch of passionate indigo dyers and growers. facebook.com/groups/indigopigmentextractionmethods

[@tendingahandmadelife]

Just uploaded a new video, making a linen dress and dyeing with my homegrown indigo ... some good bits about balancing a vat that's been idle for several months. th-cam.com/video/vm_JX21nC74/w-d-xo.html

[@mccarthyhome]

The silk is stunning!

[@g.m.5412]

They really are stunning! 😍