figured i would pop in quickly and answer the two questions that came from the last post, here, rather than in the comments sections.
nicole asked about the daily stirring - concerned that it would introduce oxygen into the vat, which is of course exactly what you're trying to avoid. i do what my instructor in art school taught me, and what i saw a very experienced indigo dyer in japan do - stir in a circular motion with a (very long) spoon that reaches to the bottom of the pot. this way, the spoon is mixing up the sludge that has settled at the bottom (which is the point of the stirring - to reintroduce the mix into the water to allow the chemical reactions to continue happening). and as you stir you begin to create a whirlpool - not only does this mix things up fairly aggressively without adding too much oxygen, but once you have a flower forming, the whirlpool helps to bring the flower back together into the centre of the vat.
i agree with margie that it's good to do your stirring at the same time each day - then it just becomes part of your regular daily routine. i do mine first thing in the morning - feels like a little check-in to see how they're doing....
and heleen asked if it was possible to use a big plastic bucket to make a vat in, which it definitely is. you can use any type of vessel you like. preferably one with a lid, to help keep both the air out and the smell in. currently both my natural fermentation and my zinc-lime vats are in 5 gallon plastic pails, the kind that a contractor or painter might use.
the main consideration when choosing a vessel is what you're going to dye. i had my fermentation vat in a smaller container (a stock pot), but then when i would dye large skeins of wool, the wool was too big and would touch the sediment at the bottom of the pot, mixing it all up, which you don't want to do while dyeing. your goods will not only get a bunch of unreduced indigo on them, which will make them look darker blue than they are but will then wash off when you rinse (and waste the indigo), but once the liquid gets too stirred up, you have to stop and let the sediment settle again, which takes at least two hours. so choose a vessel that is big enough that your fibres can go into it without touching the bottom two inches or so of the vat.
the other consideration is keeping the vat warm - the advantage of a stock pot or other metal vessel is that you can just plunk it on the stove to warm it up. but this time of year your vat shouldn't need any additional warming - summer room temperature will be more than enough. however come winter, a plastic vat will be harder to keep warm, and alive.
there's many wonderful photos of indigo dyers in warm climates, who have their vats built right into the ground, like this man in india:
photo from here
so i promised last time that i would detail out how i made the natural fermentation vat that we used at our dyeing party last week. the recipe i used comes from cheryl kolander at aurora silk and you can find it right here.
there is also a very similar recipe in "the art and craft of natural dyeing" by jim liles, which is one of my two natural dye bibles that i refer to all the time. he has several indigo recipes, including old fashioned sig vats, which use just indigo and urine. but i am nowhere near that hardcore. and my vats are already stinky enough, thank you very much.
in any case, as i said, the recipe is very simple. for my medium sized vat, which i did in a big stock pot (holds around 2 gallons, or 7-8 litres) i combined:
warm water, almost to the brim
50 grams of finely ground indigo
28 grams finely ground madder root
28 grams regular old wheat bran
170 grams soda ash
stir very well (especially when you add the indigo - it is notoriously tough to dissolve), put a lid on it (important, as the point is that you're trying to reduce the oxygen out of the vat), and put in a warm place.
and that's it! the key is that you have to look after it a little bit, but all this means is that you need to stir it once a day (quite well), and make sure it stays warm. as i said, when i did this vat in the winter, it took almost 6 weeks to be ready to dye, but the vat that i started recently and have been keeping in a warm attic only took 5 or 6 days.
gotta run to teach a class at the workroom (felting this time!), but i'll come back in a day or two and talk about how you know that your vat is ready to dye.
any questions so far?
had a little dyeing party in the backyard last night. we had trouble getting the zinc-lime indigo vat going in the advanced dyeing class at the workroom, so i had promised the students that once i got mine going at home, i would invite them all over for some dipping.
and it was even better, because since then i have also gotten my natural fermentation vat going. the mini one that i wrote about a few weeks ago worked out so well that i started up a second, slightly bigger one. i had only ever done a natural fermentation vat once, years and years ago, and i had never really been motivated to do it again, since that vat took a really long time to be ready (six weeks!), and even then wasn't very strong. but i now realise that the problem wasn't the vat, but the time of year. last time i tried it was winter, and i struggled to even keep my vat at room temperature, just like my zinc-lime vat this past winter.
but.....now that it's warm, and i've got my vats up in my (cooking hot) attic studio, everything is coming up blue.
the natural fermentation vat is really quite easy, and last night we were getting some beautiful blue in a wonderful range of intensities. i linked to the recipe that i used a few posts ago, but i'll come back soon and do a post with more details of how i made my vat, and perhaps some discussion of the different types of vats.
but first, some photos of our dyeing fun:
it was lovely to see the backyard all covered in fabrics and yarns in various stages of dipping and oxydizing.
one of my favorite parts of shibori is the 'reveal', when you unfold the fabric and see what kind of design you've created. this is karyn's lovely window pane piece.
susan put on a pot of cochineal and added some lime juice to it. the acid from the limes brings out the red, especially on wool. i dyed the ends of a few skeins of superwash merino to create some new variegated colourways that i'll have in the shop soon.
the evening was overseen by my trusty studio assistant, who managed to escape the fate of indigo dipped paws.
it was a great night, so much fun to be dyeing in a group like that. arounna has posted some lovely photos, including one of the indigo flower on top of the zinc-lime vat (which is how you know your vat is ready to dye).
after nicole posted some lovely photos of herself wearing the solar dyed scarf she won in my giveaway, a few of you wrote to ask if there were any more available. so i've been bundling and waiting, bundling and waiting, and have just listed a few solar scarves in my shop.
the process requires a bit of patience, since the dyes are set with only the heat of the sun, and so need to be left to 'cook' for at least a week or so. but it's so satisfying to open the bundles up for the big reveal. as per usual, i don't feel like my photography skills do the colours and details in the patterns justice, but i'm working on it.....
a few weeks ago i decided to treat myself to taking a class at the workroom,
the place where i teach dyeing. cathedral windows patchwork had long been on my list of things to try, so i was thrilled when it was added to the fantastic roster of classes at the workroom. i'm not much of a quilter, i've only done a few pieces in my life, but i find it very satisfying and the results can be so stunning.
whenever i do any patchwork i always gain a new appreciation for those who are so good at it (including johanna, the fabulous quilting instructor at the workroom), since it's an art that requires such precision. this kind of meticulousness is not really my strong point, but i have found that even though my patchworks always end up a bit wonky, i'm still usually pretty happy with them.
the cathedral windows technique is a bit fiddly, and requires a decent amount of handsewing, so my piece is only going to be this big - four squares by four. i think i'll make it into a cushion. it would be lovely to make a piece like this which showcased a gradation of colours made with natural dyes, wouldn't it?
i had basically put my zinc-lime vat on hold completely, since i was having too much trouble keeping it warm enough. i never thought that it would be the end of may before we actually felt some sustained warmth here in toronto, but that has been the (grey, dreary, rainy) case.
and now, finally and suddenly we have seemed to have skipped spring and headed right into the heat of summer. i took this opportunity to revamp my vat, and also to move it to my third floor studio, which is suddenly hot as an oven. after just one day there is already a flower forming on the top of the vat, so i'm pretty hopeful that the heat is going to be just what my fussy blue friend has been wanting all along.
inspired by this post by eva, i've also started a small fermentation indigo vat, which uses wheat bran, ground madder and soda ash as the reducing agents. i had one of these types of vats going years ago when i was in art school, but it didn't survive my move back across the country.
for some reason my instinct is to create giant vats of indigo, perhaps a leftover from when i was dyeing large skeins of wool for weaving. but i liked how eva's vat was so small - it makes it somehow seem more manageable, so i've followed suit and done just a small jar which can sit happily on my desk.
i used cheryl kolander's recipe from aurora silk, and just scaled the ingredients down proportionally. it's the same recipe i used last time i did a natural fermentation vat, and while i did have success, i found that it took my vat more like six weeks to be ready to dye, rather than the one that she lists. but it only requires a little stir every day so it's pretty low maintenance. i was sure to use a vessel with a lid that seals, since i learned last time that this can be a bit of a stinky venture.
kind of obsessed with the solar dyed bundles right now. i was really pleased with the results from the one i did at the workroom,
so i put a few more together last week, and just opened them up yesterday. i'm making a bunch of shibori scarves for a couple of my retailers, so i'm also going to put on some more bundles for them as well.
my favorite is this one, where i used some cochineal bugs that i had already used to make a dye extract with, some blackberries, and a little bit of osage. i love the peach and purple together, and how a design is formed where the fabric was folded over on itself.
i did another one with blackberries which got all mouldy. not exactly sell-able anymore, but the designs produced by the mould were actually quite beautiful, even if there's not really anything i can do with this one.
and finally there's with onion skins. i like the way it turned out, but feel like it needs a little something more. that's one of the things that i love about dyeing, is how you can continually add layers of colour (and texture) by overdyeing. i've had times where i was completely dissatisfied with the way something turned out, but then overdyed it to become a favorite. i think i'll bundle this one back up with some more, new dyestuffs.
