Lads: I have found a stand of Indigo plants growing on my place and am wondering about how one goes about making dye from it. Is it the bark that is used? Is that used wet off the plant, or dried in some fashion? Or, is some other part of the plant used? I just finished dyeing some cotton and linen in walnut husks, but the discovery of the indigo has got me thinking I might want to try that as well. Any wisdom shared will be much appreciated.

Col Boone

The process of obtaining dye from the plant is a very complex task. Theres a reason Indogo blue cloth was so expensive.
You have to extract the Indican,Aerate it. Ferment it then evaporate the liquid off to form the hard cake Ingigo dye.
I can give you the whole process if you want.
One source for blue(Indigo?) dye about a 100 years ago was the blue paper that loaf sugar was sold in

r, Trail - Maybe I don't need anything blue anyway....but thanks. I'll stick to walnut husk dye for now. :-)

Col Boone

When in doubt ask a Local/Native/Islander more often than not they have it figured out.Might be interesting to see,hear,know what the process is,just cause.

An interesting or maybe not aside re Indigo.
The Tuaregs of north africa have a perminate blue stain on their skin. This comes from the Indigo dye used on their clothing. Indigo is a contact dye so will "rub" when used to dye cloth and not the yarn.
Are you not glad you raised the question of Indigo

One can buy a "synthetic indigo" dye that is used in place of real indigo almost all the time these days, or so I understand. That's because of the expense of time and money spent extracting the dye from the indigo plant, as Trail has pointed out. Even at the science museum in Minnesota, where the volunteers prided themselves on using real ingredients, the artificial dye was used.
The color you end up with on your fabric, of course, depends in part on the fabric itself and how long you soak it in the dye-bath, but more upon the mordant you use with the dye. "Indigo" can produce forms of the blue we think of, but also green and other colors.
I've read that folks such as Francis Marion and other agriculturalists in some parts of the South grew indigo as one of their crops, but that it was hard to make money on it.

Dick

Lads - As usual in this hobby, one innocent question leads to a whole bunch more! I suppose that is the addiction in it. As for Indigo - it was the discovery of the plants growing wild on my place that got me thinking...the wife says, "oh, this is Indigo" and I immediately think,"ah, one can make dye from that"....little knowing what I had just thought.

Yes, it would be of interest to know the traditional method of preparing the dye, but it does seem that a more practical approach would be to go for the modern alternative. It the end, it does make me wonder if I really like blue.....

Thanks, though, for the info shared.

Col Boone

The typical mordant for indigo dye is ureaic acid, otherwise known as PEE!
If you're gonna make up a pot of period, natural indigo dye, I hope you got a place to cook and ferment it that's a far piece from any livin' area!

Lostrifle - Ah, yes, that stuff! I guess urea was much in demand...make gunpowder with it ("a bit of stale urine is added to make a paste"), and now we hear of its' use for Indigo dye. Good thing it was in ready supply... :-)

Col Boone

Actually I believe the belief was that a pre-pubesant <sp?> boy's urine was needed. Don't know how important that really was, and you can buy urea mordant at craft shops.

They also used to save up the blue wrapping paper from sugar cones, and then use them when they had enough.

You can use laundry bluing if you wish. I like RIT if I want a blue.

LD

If you cant wait to collect enough PEE as a alternative!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Caustic Soda or Sodium Hydrosulfate can also be used. OH by the way some Indigo's are toxic I.endecaphylla,while others,I.patens/I.tintoria are Medicinal in nature.As the Col pointed out,one question begets another.
There is a book by Gwen Fererday, "Natural Dyes" never read it but was told and read the introduction to the book,says it covers natural dyes and recipes for them. cost about $14.95.Might be worth the investment!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Walking Crow,

Walking Crow- Now, that book sounds most interesting. The bad part is that here in Hawaii we have few of the "common plants" used for much of the dyeing and crafts of the Old Days on the frontier. No walnuts, etc, etc.

But, that sounds like a book for the library.

Col.Boone

Col.Boone never know what will be in the book,beets will make a red dye very rich,golden rod is another.With the bright colored cloths on the Island there has to be some plants for natural dyes.Read a post where you wrote you worked/wrote alot about/with the locals,what better resource?
Rodale's "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs" ISBN 0-87857-699-1 has a section on plant/color/mordant too use and it has a lot of other interesting reading.Library might have a copy!!!!!!!!!!
"Adopt the pace of nature:her secret is patience".
R.W.Emerson

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Walking Crow,

A very good little book is "North American Dye Plants" by Anne Bliss. Not only tells you what you can use but also what colours you may expect with various mordants.

alking Crow - Indeed, Hawaiian crafts do include various dyes and related colorants. I suspect the bright colors you think of are from the era of chemical dyes, long after our time period. In the "pre contact" (by Western culture) days a range of dye colors were used to create blacks, an ochre color, reds (very dark), and on occasion a blue is seen, but rarely. I have messed around with a lot of traditional Hawaiian crafts, but my knowledge of Colonial Frontier craft is limited - thus my questions. I have been researching a bit to see if there was any "culture" of riflemen here and it seems very little, if any. Firearms were present as early as 1790 (from British ships and traders), but not a major factor (either in "military" or civilian hands) until far later.

The dye books do sound most interesting and I shall definitely add one or more to the library.
That is growing each passing month - pretty soon I got to do some shelf re-allocation to house it!

Learning new stuff is such grand fun!

Col Boone

Col. Boone, if I was in Hawaii I think my better half might want to attend a rondy . If there ain't any we could start one. Seriously, lovely place.

Hawkmandan: Nope, no rondy as far as I have been able to discover. "Start one"? Hummm...might have merit and I sure got the place for it. But, the barriers in the way may well rule that out. First, there is no source of real black powder here and getting it in is a chore and most costly. So, that lets the rocklocks out. Percussion supplies - thanks to the in-line boys - are to be found....#11 caps and Pyrodex RS, if that suits.

I am not sure about any regulations that may apply other than the basic hunting license - most all State licenses are honored here, as are ours in other States. So, that may not be an issue.

And, as I have contemplated perhaps trying to make it to a US Mainland rondy, how the heck to you get your gear there? Sure, if you want to do the Mark Baker deal you likely can ship ahead the basic gear, and the rifle would have to ship via UPS Ground...all of which take time and require that somebody on the other end receive the goods and hold them for you. Sounds complex to me.

But, if some of these issues can be worked out I sure would be game to work out this end of it as I am able. I know the ground well, know the folks, and can likely help it happen in that regard.

The high country of the Big Island is really magnificent, though entirely different from anything you migh find on the US Mainland.

Col Boone

Col,
Read the other thread about Will G's dug-out canoe. Then think "outrigger". Then load up your gear and head for the mainland!

Dick

As nice as it was when I was there don't need much gear. Sun in the day and big moon at night. Loved it.

Dick/Hawkmandan - Yep, add an outrigger and off you go - of course, you need LOTS of freeboard, and having done a fair amount of open ocean paddleing in my younger days, it will be one heck of a trip!

Re the clmate, clothes, and such. First, forget any notions you have of the "Hawaii" of the travel posters - that ain't us! We are at 4000 feet up on the slopes of a volcanic mountain - it gets cold (46 last night, and it will often hit freezing in Feb/March), and it RAINS often. This is a "high altitude tropical rainforest", so the entire affair is different for sure.

Today it dawned absolutely clear, very bright moon setting, East sky a brilliant orange...wow, the best it gets. Later this week I plan to get out just about that time to see what the piggies may be doing...

Col Boone