Hi Lyra. During the cold extraction while the leaves are soaking you can introduce textile to the bath and it will dye with indigo. Most people do not do so because it usually results in uneven coverage. It works best with wool or silk. Also the shade of blue achieved may not be as bright. Woad has a tan dye in the leaves which does not need a mordant and even though you are dyeing at a low temperature some of this dye will dye your textile because you need to leave it in the extraction bath for some time. Try some experiments and see what you can get.
Thank you for sharing!!! I’d like to see more from you!
Thanks Erin, we will try and post more in the future but currently flat out doing workshops and various other stuff.
Is this just for extraction? Or can you add the (mordanted?) yarn directly to this? I’ve never dyed with woad but my plants are ready!
Hi Lyra. During the cold extraction while the leaves are soaking you can introduce textile to the bath and it will dye with indigo. Most people do not do so because it usually results in uneven coverage. It works best with wool or silk. Also the shade of blue achieved may not be as bright. Woad has a tan dye in the leaves which does not need a mordant and even though you are dyeing at a low temperature some of this dye will dye your textile because you need to leave it in the extraction bath for some time. Try some experiments and see what you can get.
No need to use mordanted fibre for indigo unless you wish to overdye with another colour to get green or other blend.