Washing the indigo paste

17 Jul

22 days leaf to paste, 3.5 # of leaf to 1.1 # of paste before washing. Indigofera Suffruticosa in Texas Hill Country. I opted to do nothing the 4 days it was 104-112 degrees outside. The pigment can settle without fiddling in that heat.

2 Responses to “Washing the indigo paste”

  1. Cindy Craft's avatar
    Cindy Craft August 23, 2020 at 8:29 pm #

    Have spent the summer dyeing with JI leaves from my garden, ice/cod water, enzyme method, hydro vat, fructose vat and just about to try fermentation vat. Have been extracting the indigo from the leaves in 120 – 140 degree water. Stuck a strand of wool
    in the extraction water and got color. I’m now wondering why people aren’t dyeing at low temp in water? Thoughts?

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    • debmcclintock's avatar
      debmcclintock August 23, 2020 at 8:38 pm #

      Not really, the 120-140 seems higher than normal. If you check literature I think you’ll find your extraction can happen at 100+ but the vat process depending on type vat can be lower.

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