Every year I get together in the summer with a friend and we make an indigo vat. Dyeing with indigo is a mixture of chemistry and magic, rather like developing a film. I’m not going into the detail again as I’ve put up a couple of posts before (for example, my first foray).
This year we did a lot of cassava resist, but this post is really about the visual (often abstract) delights of the craft rather than the results. The metallic sheen or inky depths of the vat, sky and tree reflections in rinsing water, closeups of equipment and fabrics all inspired me.
(The title 445nm comes from the supposed wavelength of indigo, although modern thinking is that it isn’t really a colour other than blue, Isaac Newton having mischaracterised his spectrum a bit. Anyway, actual indigo isn’t just deep, deep blue, but has lovely bronze or peacock blue iridescence is certain lights.)