Natural Dyeing with fresh leaves of Japanese Indigo (Polygonum tinctorium)

Below see some photographs of my exciting dye experiments following information found in the book
"Der Regenbogenfarbendieb"
(Stealing the colours of the rainbow),

written by Dr. Elmar Weinmayr
about the workshop of the Japanese master dyer Yoshioka.
ISBN 4-87940-568-X

This dye bath has to be worked quickly to prevent the instable Indigo pigment from the leaves from decomposition before it attaches itself to the fibres. Only cold water and a small amount of vinegar are used, there are no other additives.
This method of dyeing works best on silks.

Japanese Indigo (Dyer’s Knotweed) on the field
of the Tretau family in Kollow.

Regrowth of Japanese Indigo after the first cut

I transport the freshly cut stalks home in the car.

 

Rinsing in water ...

... and draining off on a duckboard.

The leaves have been stripped off and are cut finely.

 

The leaves have been soaked and are now squeezed vigorously to release the dye from the leaves.

Some vinegar is added to the water to help release the dye pigment and to delay its breakdown.

Everything is strained off and has to be kneaded once again in water with added vinegar.

 

The released pigment has a strong green colour.

The leaves and the dye bath change colour and intensify during the second kneading in water.

 

Undyed white silk first turns green in the dye bath ...

... then changes more and more to blue.

 

Through contact with oxygen and water the colour changes to a blue tone with a slight turquoise tint.

The silk has to be dried quickly to fix the dye to the fabric.

After the first dyeing process the dye baths are repeated once or several times more to ensure a greater depth of colour and a better lightfastness.

Yellow wool and silk are overdyed.

Silk in the final rinse. Different yellow dyes result in different shades of green.

The dried results on the following day.

 

 

 

The silk is not ready yet, it is going to be rinsed again and then ironed.

On the evening of the 7th of October, after six weeks of dye experiments, the silk is ironed and I am delighted with the results!

The morning of the 8th of October: The colours change during the day and look different in changing lights.

Details from the colour wheel.

The overdyeing of different yellow silks results in very different shades of green.

The book “Der Regenbogenfarbendieb” has enriched and inspired me. I would like to thank the dye master Yoshioka in Kyoto for the generous sharing of his knowledge – and Dr. Elmar Weinmayr for writing this book!

I worked these dye experiments as a supplement for my dye book "Wolle und Seide mit Naturstoffen färben" (transl. Dyeing wool and silk with natural colours). The recipe will be given in detail in this supplement.

Japanese Indigo – Dyer’s Knotweed – Polygonum tinctorium

I received the seeds for this experiment from the Thüringer Zentrum Nachwachsende Rohstoffe in Dornburg/Germany; the Tretau family in Kollow grew the plants for my dye experiments. I would like to thank both of them sincerely for their help!

Japanese Indigo is a small herbaceous plant, native to the warmer regions of Eastern Asia. It is not fully hardy in our climate and thus can only be grown as an annual. The precursors of indigo are present in the leaves, which are best used fresh, but can also be dried carefully. The loss of pigment through drying the Japanese indigo can be as high as 90 %.

The use of fresh leaves of Japanese Indigo is absolutely necessary for the dye process shown above. The quicker the leaves are processed, the better the dye results will be.

Small amounts of seeds can be ordered from the “Thüringer Zentrum Nachwachsende Rohstoffe” in Dornburg: 10 g for Euro 3.00 plus VAT plus postage.

Address:
Thüringer Zentrum Nachwachsende Rohstoffe der TLL
Apoldaer Straße 4
07778 Dornburg
Tel.: 036427/868-0
Fax: 036427/22340
Email: a.biertuempfel@dornburg.tll.de
or c.pikus@dornburg.tll.de

A description of the plant and its cultivation (in German) is available from the “Thüringer Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft”. Maybe activities such as this will lead to a renaissance of natural indigo dyeing.

Geesthacht, October 2005
© Dorothea Fischer

Questions? contact under Dorothea@LustAufFarben.de

Bettina Foertig translated into English, thank you.

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