Indigo Dye Challange Vol.3

July 25, 2017

Indigo Dye Challange Vol.3

Hello! This is Mushi from Yin Yang Kyoto.


Two weeks have passed since seeding, and there are so many more sprouts coming out from the seeds. 

 

I did a little bit of research about indigo and found that indigo is edible. In Tokushima, indigo is quite a popular food item! 

This is a thing of the past; no one knows about it or thinks of eating it, even seniors or craftsmen of indigo. 

 

The Indigo plant contains many antioxidants and antibacterial agents. Its antioxidant potency is much stronger than that of blueberries. I will try some if the seedlings grow more and become plants…

 

I mentioned that I may make blue pudding, but in my office, I was bombarded with disbelief from my colleagues and they just said "no way!" I will report it when I make it in August to prove them wrong! I am dreaming of my delicious blue pudding and can't wait for my leaves to grow.

By the way, materials for indigo dyeing do not only include indigo leaves. 
In Okinawa, they use Assam indigo.

 

 

For example, in Europe, they use Isatis tinctorial and Isatis indigotica, which are biennial grass that belongs to the brassica family. In India and ASEAN, they use bushy tree which belong to Indigofera of Fabaceae.

 

 

The blue color of Yin Yang Bali line comes from Indigofera.
 
In the photo above, Yuyan from Yin Yang Bali is holding deep green leaves (which are mango leaves by the way). They can be used to make dyes for a mustard color.
The light green leaves in front of the mango leaves are indigofera leaves. 
 
We can make green color by mixing mango and indigofera leaves.
Similarly, we can make pink color by mixing sappan and mango leaves.
 
We are able to create and deliver Yin Yang's exquisite products thanks to these underlying skills and knowledge about natural extraction of color from plants, color mixture and dying methods in our dyeing factory.
I am so much more interested in natural dyeing than before.
 
I hope to move my indigo plants to bigger plantations next time and introduce much more natural dyeing.