At Botanical Colors we believe that every day is Earth Day. To celebrate in a meaningful way, we are excited to launch a new indigo collaboration with Vibrant Valley Farm: meet Vibrant Valley Blue Indigo Paste. After seven years of intensive growing, harvesting and fine-tuning their extraction processes, Vibrant Valley Farm is thrilled to share their indigo pigment paste with the world. It is an exceptional product and is perfect for artisans, dyers, and makers alike. Paste means that the product combines easily in a classic 1-2-3 vat and yields beautiful, brilliant blue shades. We can’t wait to share it with you, too.
Vibrant Valley grows a beautiful Persicaria tinctoria (Japanese) indigo crop on Sauvie Island, Oregon, and we are delighted to offer a high quality, regionally grown natural dye. It really is a dream come true for us to add a Pacific Northwest dyestuff to our product line.
FAQ about Vibrant Valley Blue
- How is this indigo different from your other indigo?
- Vibrant Valley Blue is the only larger scale commercially produced indigo available to the artisan dyer in North America today. The team at Vibrant Valley has devoted years to growing and testing the indigo they produce. We are very impressed with the quality of this indigo pigment.
- How much can you dip with this indigo?
- The jar of paste will make a medium shade vat in a 5 gallon bucket. The vat benefits from a 2-3 day aging period before you use the dye. You can achieve beautiful, rich shades through multiple dips.
- How do you make the paste from the powdered indigo?
- The paste is actually the step before drying and powdering. So after the indigo leaves are harvested and soaked, the indigo is precipitated and then allowed to drain. The drained precipitate is Vibrant Valley Blue Indigo Paste.
- How long will the indigo last?
- The indigo will keep very well in cool, dark conditions. Stir well before using. Kara says it’s okay to keep it in the refrigerator, too.
How to use Vibrant Valley Blue:
Directions for use
Vibrant Valley Blue Indigo paste makes it very easy to create a 1-2-3 indigo vat using the reducing agent of your choice: henna or fructose. For a Ferrous sulfate vat, see Notes below.
Create your vat with the following guidelines
- Start with a 5 gallon bucket as your vat.
- Use the 1-2-3 indigo vat recipe with 1 jar of Vibrant Valley Blue, 100g of calcium hydroxide and 150g of fructose (or henna).
- Fill the 5-gallon bucket with about 3 gallons of very hot water, then use about a a quart of very hot water to paste out and hydrate the calcium hydroxide and add to the vat. Use another quart to dissolve the fructose or henna. Henna works best if you add a small amount of water to make a thick paste, then gradually add more very hot water to loosen to a thin paste, pressing out all the lumps along the way. Add the fructose or the henna mixture to the vat.
- Add the jar of Vibrant Valley Blue to the bucket and use any remaining water to rinse the precious indigo into the 5-gallon bucket.
- Add a little more water so that the indigo vat is about 4 inches from the top of the bucket. Mix well and let the mixture cool enough so you can dip. You are ready to go!
Notes
- One jar of Vibrant Valley Blue is equivalent to 50 grams of indigo powder
- If you want to make a 1-2-3 Iron (Ferrous sulfate) vat, use one jar of Vibrant Valley Blue, 100g of iron (Ferrous sulfate) and 150 grams of calcium hydroxide. Iron vat instructions are here.
- Store Vibrant Valley Blue away from heat and direct sunlight.
Vibrant Valley Blue Indigo Paste
Vibrant Valley Blue Indigo Paste We are thrilled to introduce a new, Pacific Northwest-based indigo paste from the incredible growers and dyers at Vibrant Valley Farm. Kara Gilbert and her skilled team created Vibrant Valley Blue, a Persicaria tinctoria indigo extract. This product is based on years of growing, harvesting and experimenting with varieties, cultivation…
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