Sneaky Burrito
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thread 1/6
Indigo dyeing in the garage. Here's my vat and my drying rack. I put a tarp on the floor to hopefully contain some of the drips.
01:21 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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Sneaky Burrito
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thread 2/6
The blue pigment is actually just floating particles. The dissolved, reduced indigo is the green stuff showing at the edge of the spoon. That's what actually does the dyeing. That's why I put all the lye and sodium hydrosulfite in yesterday.
01:21 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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Sneaky Burrito
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thread 3/6
First you have to soak the fabric in water. This is about 8 yards (cut into 2 yard pieces) of a 52% linen/48% cotton bleached fabric. It's more than I need but I want to account for shrinkage and perhaps a few not-so-evenly-dyed spots.
01:21 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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Sneaky Burrito
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thread 4/6
The fabric comes out of the vat that green color from the spoon up above and oxidizes in air to blue. I did 4 dips of the fabric in the vat for 3 minutes each. I wanted a dark color which I think I got although this is still wet so it may dry a little lighter.
01:21 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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Sneaky Burrito
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thread 5/6
My efforts to protect the floor were valiant but ultimately unsuccessful. When I lifted the tarp there was a lake underneath. Oops. Well it will go with the newspaper someone painted onto the floor before we moved in.
01:21 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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Sneaky Burrito
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thread 6/6
I wore gloves but you can see where the gloves ended. I got this all over my face and my pajama pants (I wore some indigo dyed ones in case of a mess, which turns out to have been a good call).
01:21 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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Sneaky Burrito
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In response to Carol DeFreese.
You can keep using the vat until you're not really getting any color out of it anymore. Then you can stir it a bunch to oxidize and neutralize the pH with something like vinegar and it's safe to dump in the yard. I'm probably going to do some wool yarn next weekend.
02:03 PM - Apr 21, 2024
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