Indigo

In Feb 2019, the last time I taught the Fibers & Clothing block, we had a special guest for dyeing with indigo. I've never had the courage to set up an indigo vat (eek!). We went over to SIU to meet with Dr. Sedonia Sipes, who taught us about shibori (the Japanese art of folding the fabric before dyeing) and helped us dye our items with indigo. All of those photos are here.

This time around, we also had a special guest for indigo dyeing but it was an even shorter trip. During a party, I discovered that my next door neighbor had an indigo vat! (Yes, this is what I do at block parties apparently. Network with people, and set up future field trips and special guests.)

So we walked through the crepe myrtle bushes to her yard and she taught us how to do it.

Thursday Oct 10

Our lesson in shibori! Each child got a cotton tote bag to dye as they wished.

Some children used rubber bands, some children used clothespins, and some had a combination of both in their design.

Thursday Oct 17

Day 2! It's time to dip our folded tote bags in the indigo dye bath!

gloves are essential!

soak your items in water first, so that they dye evenly

the items will come out bright green at first (left),
then will shift to blue (right) as the dye reacts with the air

holding back a friend's long hair so it doesn't go in the dye!

During recess, I washed each tote bag in my Art Sink and then removed all the rubber bands and clothespins. Here are the before and after pictures.

Note: The bags with the teal color on them had been folded and wrapped up so tightly that oxygen simply hadn't gotten to all of the fabric quite yet! As we watched, they shifted to the true indigo blue color.

Lastly, I ran the bags through the washing machine with a little bit of mild laundry detergent, and we hung them out on the clothesline to dry! Many thanks to Ms. Jasmine for doing this extraordinary project with the children!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!