Sharing the thread of life
Our indigo pot was strong and hearty. I brought cloth to dip into the pot and decided to put little rubber band resists all over the cloth to see what it would do. I did one, two and three rubber bands in different places. The three rubber band method turned out the best. Shown in the photos is the cloth after one dip with rubber bands still in and one after the indigo had oxidized. I was very happy with the results.
I decided to do 2 small pieces 18 X 11 inches. These will be used for covering the covers of handmade books.
Piece #1 I accordion pleated the long way with 1 1/2 inch pleats, giving me an 18 inch strip 1 1/2 inch wide. Then I pleated the the other direction in 1 1/2 inch pleats. This gave me a cube that I tied several times around both directions.
Piece #2 I accordion pleated the long way with 1 inch pleats, giving me an 18 inch strip 1 inch wide. Then I tied the strip about every 2 inches.
I then dipped them in the indigo 3 times; The 2nd and 3rd time I dipped Piece #1, I opened the folds on the corners slightly.
Our dye pot was Strong so I only left the pieces in for 1 to 2 minutes.
Here are the pieces wet.
Very little dye rinsed out and there is no crocking. As you can see the darkest blues are almost as strong dry as they were wet!
Frank’s bag from last month’s indigo dye pot is felted and finished!
