Dyeing with Indigo

This is a section of my piece of cotton cloth that was stitched and gathered tightly. Today we put the pieces in the dye pot of prepared indigo. Indigo has many interesting properties, one being the amount of oxygen in the dye. Part of the preparation is reducing the Oxygen with other chemicals, then put the piece in slowly so as not to add more air. When the cloth is removed (#4 and 6) it is first a yellowish green, then green, and turns to blue in only minutes, as it is exposed to the air and oxidizes. The other photos are the pieces of other dyers, the one where it looks like the woman is wearing it, is a future huipil   or straight blouse that is common here. On Monday I am going to dye my other small pieces using other stitching designs.
Right now we are leaving for a weekend hiking excursion. Have a good weekend everyone!