Hello folks,
This indigo dye vat experiment started because our friend and Masak member Adel, who runs fashion studio Muta Wear, wanted to explore natural dyes for her textiles. During her masak-masak studio time, we somehow started not one, but two, indigo vats in a single day with ingredients she bought online. The indigo vats were aptly named: the iron vat, Rob (after Robert Downey Jr. in Ironman), and the fructose vat Candy.
Setting up an indigo vat, a living fermentation process after all, defies clearly set-out instructions in the booklets that came with the online purchase. While testing, some of the dyed bags accumulated an excess of insoluble indigo pigment, leaving them caked with a powdery residue after drying without sufficient bonding to the fibres.
After a good rinse, a substantial layer of indigo pigments came off and settled on the base of the container.
A question then came to mind: can this indigo run-off be alive once more?
Thus, a new baby vat, Frankie Jr., was born (there is actually also a Senior Frankie vat, but perhaps another story for another day!). This is probably not the ideal way of starting an indigo vat. Rather, it was a curiosity to scratch, and an opportunity to test the boundaries of an indigo vat. The name, Frankie, inspired by Frankenstein, is based on the spirit of trying, but hopefully with a less tragic ending.
After removing most of the excess water from the container, we started by combining the indigo sludge at the bottom with gula melaka (a type of sugar made with the sap of a palm tree), and lime powder in a beaker. Initially, there was not much of a reaction, with the indigo pigments simply resettling on the base of the beaker.
Still, Shirin held out hope in resuscitating this baby beaker vat, continuing to stir in lime and sugar occasionally over the next few days. In the video below, you can see much of the indigo pigments sticking onto the stirrer. After a few days of CPR, something gradually shifted.
The liquid mixture started to show some semblance of a regular indigo vat with a coppery-ish green liquid instead of blue - a sign that the indigo pigments have been converted into its soluble form.
By then, after adding much of the lime and sugar, a bigger container was needed. After transferring Frankie Jr. to a new home, we dyed some scrap cotton pieces to see if it was able to dye, or to even give a deeper shade as we continued to care for the vat over time. Here are the dyed cloths thus far:
In a way, this process reminds us of making compost - setting the right conditions, waiting, hoping that the right microbes will grow and do their magic. Only difference is that one process gives black gold and the other gives blue gold. :)
It’s also a gentle reminder for us, that what seems like a process that can be easily thrown off-balance can be re-balanced again through some patience, care and observation. We need to trust the process sometimes.
Ultimately, Shirin plans to combine Frankie Jr. and Frankie Sr. together to continue the Frankenstein updates. Stay tuned!
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Upcoming events:
Talk Plant to Me: Garcinia (not your Gardenia bread)
27 June
10am to 12pm
At home studio
Registration link is here.
Our second Talk Plant to Me will be held at our studio on 27 June. This time, it is on a group of plants belonging to the Garcinia genus, who share similarities in having edible (some also delicious) fruits. Together, we will explore their material properties through hands-on inkmaking, pigments, and binder preparation, uncovering some of the creative possibilities with these plants.
Hope to see you there.
Till next post,
Liz and Shirin
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