September 14, 14:00 – 17:00 at the Elisabeet FärbeHütte
The workshop introduces you how to dye with natural indigo fermentation vat. Indigo is one of the oldest textile dye dating more than 6000 years old. At Elisabeet FärbeHütte, for the whole summer we have been fermenting natural indigo colorant in alkali vat to achieve blue textile dye. Now, the fermentation is finally ready and we can enjoy the beautiful indigo blue.
Shibori, or tie-dye or batic… is a technique to make a pattern when dying a fabric. Where you have tied or made Shibori (“squeezed/compressed” in Japanese) does not get dyed because it is not expose to dye color and oxygen. Where you tied remains white. You will be shown with few different shibori techniques and you can get creative in how you make patterns on a fabric.
You will receive a scoured cotton fabric (~20cm x 20cm) to dye in the workshop. To dye with Indigo (or natural dye in general) you will need to scour your textile first. In future, if you want to dye your own textile with Indigo, please make sure to scour your textile at home first and make sure that your textile is 100% natural fiber (cotton/linen/silk/wool)
The workshop will start with a short introduction to the Indigo vat and the indigo dye process. we will make a color test first to check the condition of the vats at the FärberHütte. Fermentation vat is a living system like wine or sourdough. Some days vats dye bluer than the other days. After the tests, you will be introduced to different types of shibori techniques. You will have a moment to decide your design and tie the fabric. Afterwards, we will dye the shibori applied cotton fabric in the indigo vats. It requires 5-8 dip cycles to achieve nice deep blue color.
You are welcomed to bring home the textile you dyed.
