From Seed to Vat: Making Organic Indigo Dye with Homegrown Pigment

This week, I made an organic indigo vat with indigo powder I'd grown myself. It all started about ten months ago when I purchased some indigo seeds. I've been dyeing with indigo for nearly ten years. No matter which method you use, the process is utterly enchanting. Spellbinding. It really feels like magic. For many years I have made my vats with pre-reduced indigo powder and synthetic chemicals, because that was what I first learned to use, and I felt comfortable doing it, and had good results. But when I grew my own indigo pigment, I wanted to try a more natural method.
A quick google search taught me that the "1-2-3 Fructose Vat" method was, for the most part, a quick, easy, and relatively accessible way to create an organic indigo vat. This vat, like all indigo vats, can be used to dye natural fibers blue.
My blog post with step-by-step instructions and helpful affiliate links: spindleandspoo...

[@AndreaAlexander]

This was such a fun video! All of the colors you got are so stunning. Thank you for sharing!

[@spindleandspoonhomestead]

Thank you!! 😊

[@rosea570]

This was really interesting! I am in the UK and don't know how successful I would be at growing my own indigo plants (I would maybe need a greenhouse...), but I would so love to try. I want to try natural dyeing anyway so maybe I should start with something my locally grown first :) Did you manage to work out why your first year's attempt wasn't successful?

[@spindleandspoonhomestead]

I still am not sure what I did wrong the first year. Hopefully it doesn't happen again! Thanks for watching!

[@angieweisswange5873]

Thanks for this. I've just planted my first indigo arrecta seeds (all i could get here in South Africa). So im following you with interest