A visit to the ‘INDIGO: A Blue to Dye For’ exhibition at the Brighton and Hove Museums made me realize what a fascinating and complex subject is covered by the word indigo. The exhibition explored the area in great depth explaining the many facets of this amazing substance.
Some interesting facts:
*Indigo dye can be extracted from at least six different plants including Indigofera tinctoria, In Native of China and India and Lochocarpus cyanescent used in West Africa to Polygonum tinctoria used in Japan.
*Woad
The woad plant Isatis tinctoria is in chemical composition, methods of use and colour the same as indigo. It is known to have the properties of removing swelling and smoothing the skin.
According to Pliny in AD44 and 45 the Romans encountered ‘Celts dyed blue in order that in battle their appearance be more terrible.
*Indigo has been applied to the skin in many countries, as an antiseptic as well as for adornment and protection, also used for tattoos. It is being studied today as a cure for cancer.
*After Vasco de Gama’s discovery of the sea route to India in 1489 European dyers switched from using woad to using tropical indigo because it was more suitable for dyeing imported Indian silks, muslins and cottons. Later indigo plantations were established in the West Indies and America.
*Cloth emerges from the dye vat yellow in colour and turns blue in contact with the air. Many superstitions arose from this strange alchemy. The temperamental dye bath with its phases of fertility, often being compared (by men of course) to the unpredictable behaviour of women.
*Indigo is not suitable for printing but is used as a dip dye. Methods are resist pastes,
batik, ikat, tie dye, or stitching and pulling up tight known as adire alabere in West Africa or tritik in the East.
William Morris bleached out the indigo dye from parts of some of his designs using printing methods.
*Cloth dyed with indigo until it is nearly black can be burnished when it can look almost like metal. Seen in the deserts of the Sahara and Southern Arabia.
*Indigo’s use as hair dye goes back to the time of King Darius of Persia in the 5 century BC. Bluebeard, the Hindu god Krishna and Braveheart also have associations with indigo. It adds lustre and repels insects.
*In the past indigo work wear has been worn in many countries including, China, Europe and America. In 1873 Levi Strauss Patented (waist overalls) made from cloth woven and dyed in Nîmes, France, known as ‘serge de Nîmes’. Natural indigo was used until synthetic indigo was developed by the German company BASF at the very end of the 19th century.
*Now over a billion pairs of jeans are made each year and they are worn by all strata of society.
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I would like to contact Kate Davis who wrote an article A visit to the ‘INDIGO: A Blue to Dye For’ exhibition at the Brighton and Hove Museums. I would like to ask permission for this article to be reproduced in the newsletter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of Queensland (Australia), with acknowledgement and links.
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