Hey all....just found this and loved all the comments about dyes. I've used madder, marigold, pokeweed, coreopsis and bunch of others. My absolute favorite though is indigo. Nothing beats indigo. I want to grow it. Has anyone? I will be moving to a farm soon and will have lots of space, and decent soil. Zone 5 climate. Would love to hear others experience with growing a dye garden.
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Re: New here-question about indigo
Thu, March 22, 2007 - 7:09 AMCheck google, or your local greenhouse.
Here's something: www.plantcultures.org.uk/plant...t.html
I have never tried to grow it, because I have heard it is so difficult.
But mainly, the vat of dye takes a lot of care and maintenance. So I never really wanted MORE work!
Indigo as a dye is a live organism and needs to be fed, and it needs to rest each night.
You can also overwork it and kill it by doing "too big" of work - like a large canvas of too many yards...
good luck! -
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Re: New here-question about indigo
Thu, March 22, 2007 - 4:35 PMIndigo needs a particular climate to grow, most of the US is just too dang cold for indigo to thrive.
The dye is produced by soaking the leaves, a precipitate forms that contains the dye. This precipitate is usually dried into a cake. The dye itsself is not water soluble, so it needs an acid solution or stale urine (ick) to get it into a useable form. The vat has to be properly set up and then maintained for the length of the dye session.
That said, there is a liquid form of indigo called "Saxon blue" that is ready to use from the bottle.
I studied indigo dyeing and decided to let it go for now. There are so many more plants to explore. -
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Re: New here-question about indigo
Thu, March 22, 2007 - 10:42 PMBut it is the most beautiful color EVER!
Soo...... brilliant! -
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Re: New here-question about indigo
Fri, March 23, 2007 - 2:06 PMThe newer Instant or Freeze dried indigo is very easy to make into a vat. You start by adding water and heating, then you adjust for ph and thiorea content.
From plants will require the initial step of fermenting, etc to precipitate out the indigo. Plus in a home environment getting enough plant material to get any amount of indigo will be difficult a best.
Apparently Woad is considered a noxious weed in some areas.
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