Indigo Fermentation Vat – learning from an expert

On June 14 (Satruday) 13:00– at Elisabeet, Färbehütte

We start our first Indigo Fermentation vat/ küpe/ dye-bath at Elisabeet. It will be taught by Melanie via online first, then we will practice what we learned on-site. We will use the Sukumo from Japan and we will start the fermentation vat with a 75L wooden barrel / holzfass.

This is a hybrid of workshop and experimenting. We learn from an expert how to do it together, then we experiment ourselves to figure out on site.

We will start with a lecture from Melanie about how the Indigo pigment and dye process works, how the fermentation process is provoked and maintained and the steps we have to do in the next days.

The on-site activities include:

• Heating up the pot ash water (basic, high in PH)
• Boiling another 20L water and make more pot ash water for the next steps
• Mixing Sukumo with hot pot ash water and Kalk (ca(oh)2)
• Preparing the holzfass surface with Kalk
• Cooking wheat bran (Weizenkleie) to feed the bacteria
• Mixing the vat and learning mixing (kakuhan) technique
• Learning how to measure PH and temparature and how to log the vat in the log book

It is a lot to do. I expect the process will take 3-4 hours. Please bring drinks and snacks of your choice.

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