Indigo at midsummer

Bron Bradshaw with the scale model of our giant book

ABCD members met at The Dove yesterday to dye paper and cloth in an indigo vat under the supervision of our indigo-guru Jane Paterson. Indigo dyeing is a messy business and needs to be performed outdoors. Fortunately for us, the weather was perfect; bright and breezy.

ready to dye

When you remove the cloth from the dye vat it is bright yellow. As the air gets to it and the pigment is oxidised it changes rapidly through shades of green to blue. These are temporary colours and can be captured only in photos.

yellow to blue

greening

twice-dipped

cotton rag paper tightly wrapped on a plastic drainpipe

off the pipe

reverse side

three pipe-wrapped papers

cotton rag paper folded, clamped, pegged and dipped

watercolour paper folded and clamped

paper drying

more paper drying

midsummer roses

And today we shall be constructing some giant pages! There are some lovely photos of the Indigo day on Bron’s blog.