Hand spun singles Mohair. Top to bottom: Japanese Indigo 1st vat (3 skeins), Dahlia & Marigold Flowers over final dip Japanese Indigo (2 skeins), Japanese Indigo 3rd vat (1 skein), Japanese Indigo third vat over Dahlia Flowers (1 skein).


Recycled yarn from thrift store. Left to right: Japanese Indigo 1st vat, Japanese Indigo 3rd vat, Dahlia Flowers, Peppergrass whole plant, Eucalyptus Leaves.


Millspun Merino left to right: Japanese Indigo 1st vat, Dahlia & Marigold Flowers, Dahlia Flowers, Perrergrass whole plant.

Indigo Works! From plant to yarn.

Continuing Japanese Indigo Dyeing

After heating in canning pot to 160˚F and then steeping overnight. It got late so I let it sit overnight.

Inside the jar.

The squeezed leaves. These get saved to boil and make a golden brown dye.

In the vat. I used washing soda as the alkali and then beat it with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes. Then added color remover as the reducing agent. Now it is waiting for an hour while slowly heating up to 100˚- 120˚F. I also have a small batch in a yogurt maker to try the yeast fermentation method of reduction.

Japanese Indigo

I picked two gallons of leaves. Here they are on the porch heating up on a hotplate in 1/2 gallon canning jars. The one in the middle is a quart jar.



These are the yarns to be dyed soaking. Most of these are commercial, but there is one small skein of Mohair I spun and a sample of Corriedale.