
Next, we moved on to our big task of the day, dyeing with Japanese Indigo or Dyer's Knotweed.
Using fresh leaves from our garden, we heated them in a huge make-shift double-boiler until the water reached 160 degrees. We then strained the leaves and added baking soda to the fluid to make it alkaline. Pouring the liquid back and forth from one container to another allowed the indoxyl to react with the oxygen in the air and change into indigo.

We then added a reducing agent to convert the indigo into a yellowish form to prepare it for dyeing. We added wet yarn and soaked it for 30 minutes.

We gently lifted the yarn out of the dyebath.

And, 'like a miracle' the yarn turned from yellow to blue as it reacted with the oxygen in the air.

Pretty exciting stuff! We also boiled the leaves left over from the indigo production and dyed 4 ozs of mordanted yarn. It turned out very pretty, kind of a gold-khaki color. Will post pictures of it later.
I see your guardian angel is watching over the dyeing process.
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