Dreaming in Indigo
Misty Woodlands
Working with a single color forced me to be more inventive and interpretive than I’m accustomed to. I’ve been trying to shake up my thinking for a while, and its working!
A small botanical study of an actual native indigo plant. I’m trying to create the deepest blue possible for the background, and it involves over a dozen extra dips into the vat. Indigo builds color slowly by resubmerging. This is the darkest I’ve been able to create without compromising the waxed whites.
It seems like I’m leaning into a Garden Series here. The dark background is really striking to me.
Everything is BLUE. My hands, my sink, the blue dye of indigo has taken over my mind and studio for the last couple of months. I’m immersed into the process of nurturing a vat of indigo dye (actually two) and experimenting with batik and multiple shades of Indigo. I had no idea it would be this complicated. Working with indigo is part science project, part research, and lots of testing to figure out what it takes to create all those variations.
And it changes from day to day. Learning how to keep the vats consistent takes time and experimenting to figure out how to balance the ingredients to have the correct environment for the indigo to release its dye. Since this isn’t technically a blog about dyeing I won’t bore you with all the details, but I’m happy expand on it in the comments if you ask.
Its all been a blast! I am so energized by all this newness I wanted to share it with you. I have no idea where all this blue is going, I can’t imagine I'll leave other colors behind, but for now, blue is the color for me.
Upcoming Batik Workshop Schedule
Fundamentals of Fine Art Batik with Indigo
September 11-13, 2019
10- 4:00pm each day
Highlands NC - The Bascom Center for the Arts
register thru The Bascom for this class.
Fundamentals of Fine Art Batik
Nov 4-7, 2019
9:30am-4:30pm each day
Maximum enrollment 10 students
$390 includes all supplies
Cork Art District, Jacksonville, FL
to enquire click here