Indigo Dye Workshop

Try your hand at this beautiful dye technique, offering an infinite variety of results! Make simple summer clothing from your own unique fabrics- all materials supplied, including cotton- but if you have a cotton or wool garment you'd like to experiment with, bring it along!

We will look at the history and technique of indigo dye and its implication in global human interaction, including the beginning of the USA slave trade. We will dicuss the chemical transformation that oxidizes this dye to make the beautiful and distinctive blue. And we will experiment with a variety of easy and fun techniques for creating patterns, variations, and effects.

Binding wood pieces onto folded cotton is one technique to create dynamic resist patterns. You might prepare some laser-cut shapes to use as blocks for resist patterns- use the comments for questions or to set up a prep session.