"Indigo" color

[tiedyejudy]

One of my customers has asked me to dye something in an "Indigo" color.  Not the dye, just the color.  Knowing that that could be anywhere in a wide range, I did some experiments yesterday using Dharma's Cerulean Blue, Deep Orange, and Lemon Yellow in two ratios.  First off, math is not my strong suit, so I had a little difficulty coming up with the color ratios, but I'm pretty pleased with at least one of the  shades I ended up with.  I did two ratios, each one I did one piece full strength, the other 1/2 strength:

The two above had more of the deep orange and lemon yellow than the two below.

I like the top one of the lower two best for matching my idea of what Indigo blue should be... what do you think?

Judy

[Jaja]

Two pieces below look good. Maybe you could mix something in between No.3 and No.4.
For my visual reference I have used picture from Karren Britto:
http://entwinements.com/blog-mt3/indigo%20rosettes(sm).jpg

Your pictures are rather noisy, so I cannot decide if you're "pretty close" or "you got it".
But definitely I always enjoy your tests, trials, research reports.

[tiedyejudy]

I had done some research by checking a few other dyers' blogs who have used actual indigo dye, and I think the last picture came closest to theirs.  BTW, I used both versions (full and half-strength) of the bluer version on the order.  Here's a picture of the shirt:
 

Judy

[ktaltre]

Nice shirt, Judy............
Is that running stitch "ori-nui"?

I found some of my notes on mx dyes that look like indigo:
PROCHEM Blue 422N       
Cobalt
Mix Royal 406 with Navy 412 or 414
Blue MX-2G
I'm thinking that any strong blue with a wee bit of yellow might look like indigo, since indigo has a slight greenish cast.

I got to play with an indigo vat once at a natural dyes class. I had over the elbow rubber gloves on, but somehow got indigo down a glove and ended up with a totally blue arm and hand. The instructor said that meant the vat was successful and it was.
k. taltre

[tiedyejudy]

The stitch is a running stitch with the fabric doubled over... learned that from Jaja a few years back!  And you're probably right about the blues... I had Cerulean, so used that.  I also have Dharma's Navy and Midnight Blue, so might try with that.  I was trying to come close to some actual indigo-dyed fabric I had seen posted on a couple of blogs... I'm thinking there is no one color of indigo, but a range, which is why I tried 2 variations, then tried each one full and half strength. Someday I'll have to break down and try the real indigo, but that's for another time... 
Judy

[pburch]

I'd be inclined to try a mixture of cerulean blue with a navy that's
been corrected for greenness by the addition of a bit of red MX-5B,
such as Dharma's Strong Navy or Jacquard's Navy 078. They are
navy blue MX-3R, but another navy dye, cobalt blue (blue MX-2G),
ought to work, as well, with a touch of red MX-5B to reduce the
greenness of the 'cobalt' and the cerulean blue for added brightness.
Or a large amount of blue MX-R (which Dharma calls "sky blue",
but it's more of a royal navy if you use enough of it) with a bit of
cerulean for brightness.

Interesting: I just saw this morning that Jacquard Products is
now selling an indigo dye kit "for ages 5 and up":

No need for lye since it's pre-reduced indigo. Age five seems
a little low even so.

Paula

[ktaltre]

Oh Judy.....
When you do the running stitch, do you include both sides of the shirt in the fold or just the front side?
Do you include both sides in the tied circles? Or just the front side of the shirt.
And what kind of fabric did you work with in the first samples?
Thank you, Judy!
k. taltre

[fiberartist219]

I've seen the method for getting the stitched lines in Karren Brito's book, Shibori. You should check it out if you can. In the book, she uses lanaset dyes, but the methods she uses for tieing are universal to all types of dyes. It's chock full of full color pictures so you can really see what is going on.

[tiedyejudy]

When you do the running stitch, do you include both sides of the shirt in the fold or just the front side?
Do you include both sides in the tied circles? Or just the front side of the shirt.
And what kind of fabric did you work with in the first samples?

I did include both sides of the shirt for both the folded lines and the circles.  BTW, I insert a piece of bamboo skewer into the center of my circles before tying, and I use sinew to wrap the circles.
The fabric I used for the samples is bleached muslin.

[Jaja]

Nice piece Judy! I think I'll have to find my indigo mixture from what I have at home. We keep inspiring each other and we enjoy it, right?!
Jaja