indigo days

After my swim, I sat by the fire and tied stones into one of the pieces I’m dyeing today. I have two white cotton duvet covers, maybe 25 years old, and when I was washing them last week, I noticed they had some small stains on them. So I thought I’d prepare an indigo vat and see what I could do to give them a second life.

One of them is twisted and tied. I like this method because it often results in a relief pattern something like eel grass. Here’s that one soaking in water:

And here it is in its first dip in the indigo vat:

After ten minutes I fished it out and it’s oxidizing on the cedar bench while the other piece is having its first dip.

I sewed a kind of spiral and trail on the second cover, pulling the stitches tight, and I hope this will result in a nice shibori design. I also tied some of the stones in the first photograph at random on the rest of the surface. In the past, this technique has produced snow angels or birds in flight. You never know, though. It’s all about surprise, or at least it is for me, a complete amateur.

I like the process. I like the dreamlike state I enter as I stare into the vat and wait. Anything could happen. Steller’s jays are all around me as I dip cloth and spread it out to oxidize afterwards. It’s a blue they recognize, preening in the nearby trees. A blue I dream of, using my tongs to move the cloth around in the indigo dye, and later, at night, while the stars glitter and a coyote sings. It never gets old, preparing the cloth, measuring powders, rinsing, pegging the finished pieces to the clothesline to dry.