We got the Blues....

We had a lovely plant dying day with some of our lovely Waldorf homeschool co-op friends, on Monday. One of my contributions was an indigo vat.  Having a bit of experience with natural dying, but none with the complex process of bringing an indigo vat into being, from scratch, I bought this kit for the third time. It is pre reduced and very easy to use. Someday, I hope to learn the entire process, but it's nice to be able to experience and share the magic of indigo in the mean time!  After our dying day (during which my camera battery remained plugged into the wall at home.. super bummer) the indigo vat was not exhausted. Inspired by a section of this book, Little and I decided to faux batik some plain white linen napkins we had our cloth napkin stash. First, we applied blue gel school glue to create a resist in the corner of each napkin. We settled on a simple design for each family member, with a few fun extras thrown in.

We let the glue dry completely, then quickly dampened the napkins in water. We wrung them out, one at a time, being sure to squeeze out all of the air (you don't want to intruduce oxygen into the vat, as the dye process in an oxidation process. Adding oxygen caused the vat to exhaust faster. I need to learn more about the chemistry!)

Then, we slowly, gently lower the cloth into the vat, being careful not to agitate (thus introducing air/oxygen) ... slowly open it up beneath the surface to be sure to saturate, then bring to the side and squeeze out excess as you raise it out... again, careful not to create bubbles and disturbance)

As you can see, when the cloth comes out of the bath, it is yellowy green.... as it is opened to the air and begins to develop, it changes, dramatically. Quite magical to watch!

Napkins in different stages of development.. the frontmost being the first to go into/come out of the vat

We let them process for a good long while, then rinsed in cool water. Threw the whole bunch in the washer to get the water soluble glue out.....
Et Voila!! We got the blues! New, blue linen napkins, mostly to make snacktime/tea time for the youngest and friends more fun, but fun for all, I am sure.