06/01/2022

my take on the information and notes i took:

the process of extracting indigo dye from the indigo plants is a very manual and team effort (with lots of history further explored later) which. i really liked that and watching a video on the process was helpful to show this team effort needed to produce the dye and think it would be interesting to look further into different dyes maybe or processes/techniques in textiles that are very labour intensive/ need more than a set of hands to do. i also really liked how they use their whole body to ferment the water and think that i could perhaps use this practice in my drawings and take a similar approach to creating different markings ect

- could also collect different images of machinery/ the different utensills? used for the process

- iron rods and wooden logs are used in part of the extraction process and i think that these are both interesting materials i could try to implement into my samples to bring in different textures that are still relevant

as the dying process moves its way into actually dying treads ect it only dyes the outter later which means it gets abraided pretty easily as its not very deeply dyed, i think it would be fun to look into different things around the fading of denim and perhaps use personal clothing items and see how they have become more faded over time.

Throughout Indonesia the indigo extraction and dying process is considered a sacred and magical process with many different restrictions with women and men due to fertility ect so i think that this theme of witchcraft and prohibition might be nice to further explore and try and understand further .

'bad spirits darken or blue their victims' + 'indigo of the spirits' are both quotes i took from articles and i feel that they sort of paint an interesting image in your head so maybe using this as a starting point for an idea or further research to find the origins will lead to other points

also different precautionary rituals take place before dying such as 'waving a piece of cloth above dye pots' which also paint an interesting image

sources;

https://amberoot.com/blogs/blog/indigo-history-present-days-magical-blue-dye

http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/indigo.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEMcjmyjoOY

research

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