Indigo: Cultivate, Dye, Create

I'm building small library of natural dyeing books and I have a few indigo dyeing books. This one is helpful, and is a good one to get started with indigo. I just received 'Singing the Blues' by John Marshall, which is a slim book for $45, and I was surprised that it was so slim for the price. So far, I'd say this book, and the John Marshall book are the most helpful, but you know....sometimes I think I could have just used the internet and saved the money on these books. If you like books and want quick references, then these books are decent. I guess, I'm just finding the prices going up on some books, and there just is not as much comprehensive information in them as I was hoping for.

Everything you ever needed to know about dyeing with indigo plus info on differing techniques in dyeing as well as safety information. Lots of historical references as well. Gorgeous photos make up a great read and a valuable resource.

I'm very excited to learn about indigo dye. This book is beautiful guidance.The binding is unique, you can see the exposed thread binding.

I am very much enjoying reading this beautiful book. Indigo is a big topic, I have many books on it, have used indigo in my studio for over twenty years, and teach natural dyeing. I still find that this book has good things to offer. I actually kind of love it.I especially liked the very clear tutorial for folding and clamping to create itajime shibori patterns. I have started bringing the book with me to the indigo dyeing classes I teach for this reason.The Authors do a good job of discussing safety, and provided a small but useful glossary. There are several vats discussed, which are pictured in clear glass jars which makes it helpful to gage the different vat colors. They give credit to where they learned the vats, which I appreciate.It does have a nonstandard binding which is a bit fragile, so not a sturdy workbook for the studio, this does not bother me much.Is it the one and only indigo book you will ever need? No. However, it is definitely an indigo resource worth reading, with good information and beautifully designed pages that make it a joy to look through.

This is a book for "pretty".I've dyed with powdered indigo a few times and thought I'd take it a bit further this year and grow some Japanese indigo plants. I was wildly excited to see the release information (including a section on fresh leaf dyeing) on this book a few weeks before I'd planned on harvesting and pre-ordered it. I was quite sad to discover that "Indigo: Cultivate, Dye, Create" is primarily a book for looking at, and, even then not often.First, the binding. My copy arrived with the corners slightly smashed because the pages are only affixed to the binding by the rear flyleaf paper. This allows the sewn pages to shift around quite a bit within the binding and will inevitably wear a tear through the flyleaf paper. It's unique and totally impractical. You'll have to sit at a table to read the book and, even then, be quite careful with it.The authors evidently didn't actually try most of the vat formulas in the book; they just copied from other sources. Information is scant and troubleshooting advice even scanter. There's no information on preparing fabric other than "we recommend washing items first" - no discussion of PFD fabrics, scouring, cellulose vs. protein fibers...nada. If you are serious about tackling any of the vats in this book, I highly recommend searching the web for far more information that is available here. The one dye process that had photographs and worked well for me was the ice water fresh leaf dyeing. I am under the impression this is the only process the authors actually tried.There's a projects section for using your newly dyed fabric. Again, information is very scant and you're going to have to do much more research to successfully complete most of these processes.There is no index. There is no materials directory or suggestions for finding additional information.If you want to leave an attractive book on your coffee table to impress your friends with your "maker" chops, this book is entirely suitable. If you want to seriously approach dyeing with indigo, go elsewhere for information.

Visually pleasing to read. I’m not super into dyeing fabric so it was interesting to see the different techniques. Overall nice.