I decided with our drought and 105 degree extended string of days in the Texas Hill country I would try a smaller vat under shelter. Familiar with a fructose vat and its depth of shade I was ready to try an iron vat and explore its use and impact on our surrounding environment. We are on a well and septic system and in the middle of a rural area so I wanted to make sure I understood that type vat and had a way to dispose of waters safely. My current solar vat is 110 gallons. The new iron vat I am trying is 26 gallons, much smaller and hopefully will give better depths of shade faster than the fructose. I use rice paste resist, which does not hold up well to repeated dips in the fructose vats to get a deep shade of blue. Hopefully this iron vat will work better with the rice paste. Elisabeth Viguie-Culshaw opened up a workshop on making and maintaining an iron vat along with soya/lime paste resist instructions. I was traveling during the class but am finally settling down to “a go” on the vat and gathering supplies from what I learned from Elisabeth’s workshop.
Here is how I set out to set up this vat.
Phase 1, After finding the vat, I am testing for vat leaks & figuring out how to measure 100 liters of water easily. Measuring & marking buckets for easy 5 liter transfer. This vat is 1/4 the size of my 110 gal (416 liter) fructose vat. Due to extreme drought I am going smaller in water usage. It is on wheels so easy to push around. Before I add all the good stuff I’ll be testing my aquarium heater to ensure it will heat the vat to proper temperatures without harming the plastic. The ferrous vat is a cooler vat but still needs start up heat of 90° (30° C) to create a catalyst to kick start the indigo, ferrous (iron) & calcium hydroxide. But, I can work in the shade, not out in 105° F (41° C) heat. This container has an added benefit of wheels so I may move it around.
Phase 2 is grinding my washed indigo from the big vat. I shut it down due to past two years of extreme drought & 105° F (41°) temp and dried my rinsed indigo mud for storage. This means I have some indigo grinding to do. Getting closer to the “Big Mix” in the search for blue.
debmcclintock 
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