Fresh Leaf Indigo Dyeing – Salt Method

Here is a link to a very interesting video about Fresh Leaf Indigo Dyeing with Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) using salt!

And here’s how I do it!

Step by step- Fresh Leaf Indigo The Salt Method
Step by step- The Salt Method

The Steps!

1) Scour Silk Scarves
2) Persicaria tinctoria ready for harvest
3) Harvested indigo being kept in a bucket with water
4) Fill a 5 qt stainless steel bowl with leaves
5) Kosher Salt Fine Flake
6) Add 3 tablespoons salt to your leaves
7) Knead the leaves have until they begin to shrink and produce liquid
8) Add the scarves and begin to knead the leaves and scarves together
9) Add more leaves if needed to cover scarves, Check scarves to be sure there are no white spots.
10) The longer you knead the darker the blue
11) Solid Blue – Hanging to dry after rinsing, washing and rinsing again
12) Borders dyed – Hanging to dry after rinsing, washing and rinsing again

Fresh Leaf Indigo Dyeing

Here is a video about Indigo Dyeing using the Fresh Leaves from my Garden!!

I love it when dreams come true! Growing my own indigo and then dyeing with it has been a long-held dream of mine. That dream finally came true right here in Greenville, SC.

My tiny patch of indigo growing on my front lawn has produced beautiful, healthy plants high in indicatin.

The seeds, Japanese Indigo –  Polygonum tinctorium also called Persicaria tinctoria, came from Rowland Ricketts indigo fields in Indiana.

Jenny Balfour-Paul, author of Deeper than Indigo, kindly shared the dyeing method with me.

My next dream? An entire field of Indigo!

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