Indigo dye - Aizome -

I tried the indigo dyeing and shibori at a one day workshop.

* Shibori is the Japanese word for a variety of ways of embellishing textiles by shaping cloth and securing it before dyeing. The word comes from the verb root shiboru, "to wring, squeeze, press."

participants' dyed bandanas. beautiful indigo blue.

preparation
- cotton cloth
- disposable mesh bags
- dried indigo leaves 100g (0.25 lb)
- water 1.5 liter　( 0.4 U.S.gallon )
- sodium carbonate 15g x 3  (0.5 oz x 3 )
- sodium hydroxide 15g x 3 (0.5 oz x 3 )

1) boil dried indigo leaves in mesh bags with sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate in a bowl three times.

2) take out the dye
3)tie and sew a cotton cloth as you like ( this is a fun part!)
4)soak it in the dye for a couple of minutes

5)dry the cloth

this is my cloth. I sewed and tied too much.. I guess. I had no idea how the pattern would come out at that time..

6) done

well... my dye is a fusion of Shibori and Tie dye. I love how it came out after all.

Here is some instructions for basic "Shibori" technique