Indigo

Stitching my Kogin bag got me thinking about Tomiko, my on-line friend who died in the 2011 Tsnami.  She gave me such a wonderful gift when she introduced me to Kogin stitching.  I love the process of stitching, how the needle threads the cotton through the weave.  I love the colour difference between the blue fabric and white thread. I love the weight of the hemp fabric.  It was indeed a gift in other ways as well.  It introduced me to how 'healing' this kind of stitching can be.

I was looking around the web for more information on how the fabric is dyed and came across this wonderful video about the making of indigo dye.  This looks at the work of making the dye which has been carried on in the same family for 20 generations.  The video runs for 15 mins and is itself a little meditation. (I had to add the video as a link so just click on that not the image.)

A Treasured Creation: Today's Treasure - Ai, the Natural Indigo of Japan

 

Comments

[Rachel]

It's fascinating, isn't it. I always find myself wondering how people originally worked out how to get the colour out of woad and indigo, because it isn't a straightforward process..

[Carolyn Foley]

But fancy keeping it going for 20 generations!