My Favorite Indigo Dye Recipe
The Streeters
Several years ago I learned about Indigo at a local Farmers Market. Natural dyes have always tangled into my fascinations but I had never met Indigo. A few months later I took an Indigo Dye class. I then took a class in the Shibori methods of pattern making. By the following year, I had set up my Summer Dye Studio. I enjoy making small batch home items, sometimes for sale. My favorite fabric is linen.
Prepare the Fabric for Dye.
Best results will be from animal and plant materials such as silk, cotton, linen.
Prewash fabrics in a professional textile detergent to remove all surface treatments.
Dry fabric.
With clean hands use blocking, folding, tying, resist and Shibori methods to create designs on your fabric.
Make the Indigo solution in a 1 quart Mason Jar.
Add hot water and fill to 2” from the top.
Add 4 tablespoons Indigo powder. Stir gently until it is thoroughly mixed.
Add 2 tablespoons Calcium Hydroxide (Pickling Lime).
Add 1-1/2 tablespoons of Thiox, (Thiourea Dioxide). Stir gently.
Close the jar set aside in a warm spot. After about 30 minutes, a copper colored shine will develop on the top. The solution should turn translucent brown and yellow green. Do not shak
Prepare the Vat.
Fill a 5-gallon plastic bucket with hot tap water. (110 - 120 degrees)
Add 2 tablespoons of Calcium Hydroxide. Stir gently.
Add 1 tablespoon Thiox. Stir gently until dissolved.
Cover the vat and allow this mixture to reduce for 15 more minutes.
Carefully add your entire stock to the vat slowly without adding oxygen. Stir gently.
Let the vat stand another 20 minutes until it turns yellow/green with blue sheen across the top.
Dye the Fabric.
Dip prepared fabric gently into vat, leave for three minutes.
Rinse in clear water and then let the fabric oxidize. It will turn green/yellow to dark blue.
Repeat this process two more times.
Rinse until the fabric runs clear.
Wash with professional fabric detergent and rinse well.
Always make sure your vat maintains a PH between 10-11.
