The Indigo Blues.
For those of you who love the colour blue, there is the vegetable dye indigo. Its colour ranges from a pale sky clue to an electric blue to a darker navy. Made from the plant indigofera it is turned in a dye or tinctoria and produced in cakes or blocks which can be ground down into a powder and soaked before a fermentation process. An underground vat is used to prepare the Indigo for dyeing where water is mixed with an alkaline lime powder and an acidic jagree (sugar) to generate a fermentation with the indigo. The Vat is designed to be deprived of oxygen, and as a result the colour of a well fermented indigo vat should be a bright green. Once ready a printed cloth will be dipped into the Vat and kept under the indigo for around 30 seconds to one minute. As the cloth comes out of the indigo it appears to be a green / blue colour, but as it hits the air the oxidation process starts and the indigo blue appears as it is bonding chemically with the fibres of the cloth. As if by magic this sludgy green is transformed into a wonderful indigo blue before your eyes. Dipping the same cloth into the indigo vat a further few times will deepen the shade of the indigo and can also be used to create more than one shade of blue depending upon the design. Check out our Indigo collection in store in May.