Dyeing with Indigo: Creating an Ocean Landscape for Block Printing
Photo credit: Kyly B Clark
I wanted an ocean, so I started with a vat of indigo.
When I realized how much time and physical effort it took to block-print an entire repeating pattern, I began looking for another way to create the background. Instead of printing every inch of fabric, why not let the dye create the landscape first?
That’s how indigo dyeing became part of my process.
I dip my tea towels and fabric into an indigo dye bath to create fields of blue that suggest the ocean. Once the fabric has its landscape, I use my hand-carved blocks to add the imagery on top. The dye becomes the water; the blocks become the story.
I love indigo because the process is relatively simple, but the color is anything but simple. It has a depth and richness that seems to change as you work with it.
I use pre-reduced indigo, which simplifies the traditional indigo-vat process. The indigo has already been chemically reduced, making it ready to use in a dye bath. I purchase mine from Pro Chemical & Dye.
And there are plenty of reasons I keep coming back to it:
No elaborate fabric preparation - I simply wet the fabric before dyeing.
Room-temperature dyeing - no hot dye bath required.
A reusable vat - if I don't use all the dye, I can cover it and return to it later.
The magic of oxidation - the fabric emerges looking greenish and then transforms into blue as it meets the air.
Layer upon layer of color - multiple dips create increasingly deeper blues.
That transformation from green to blue never gets old.
My least favorite part? Rinsing. Indigo can hold onto a surprising amount of excess dye, so it takes some patience to get the fabric thoroughly washed. I finish with a machine wash using Synthrapol to help remove residual dye.
The best part comes afterward.
Once the blue has settled into the fabric, I have something that isn't quite a blank canvas anymore. It already has a landscape, movement, and atmosphere.
Then I bring out the blocks.
The ocean comes first. The story comes next.
This combination of indigo dyeing and hand-carved block printing is one of the ways I let the process do some of the designing for me.