Indigo Dyeing Class!

This past weekend, my mom and I took an indigo dyeing class with the Dallas Handweavers and Spinners Guild. One of the ladies who is part of the guild is also an art teacher at the same school my mom works at. She has her own blog here. She does some really awesome weaving and other fiber arts! You should check her out!

Indigo dyeing is so much fun! We dyed a silk scarf. Others taking the class were dyeing yarn along with their scarf. If you ever get a chance to take a natural dyeing class I highly recommend it! We haven't undone our scarves yet but I'm very excited to see how everything turns out. They said that the longer the dye is exposed to air (before setting) the more blue it gets. Before you dye you have to soak your item in a special solution and then while in the dye bath (which only takes roughly 4-5 minutes unlike other dye methods) you massage the color in. After taking the fiber out you continue to massage the item for 15 minutes. This allows the color to oxidize. It came out as a blue green and the more you massaged your item the more blue it got.

For more information on indigo dyeing check this out. You can buy some kits on Amazon if you want to try it out for yourself.

Ok here are the pictures. When we finally open up our scarves I'll post how ours turned out!

My mom's and my project after the dyeing and in plastic bags.

Until next time, happy crafting!