Blue Dreams - an exploration of indigo

Spent a wonderful week in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia in January exploring the potential of indigo as a natural plant dye with the creative and inspiring artist duo of India Flint and Roz Hawker.  We were hosted by Tarla at her wonderful farm on Tamborine Mountain - a truly magical property where Tarla has created a verdant wonderland of sustainable living and an edible paradise garden.

 The total simplicity and beauty of a bean framing a garden gate

Local rock from the property used to create a terraced vegetable garden

And every day we were presented with a selection of delicious bounty freshly picked from Tarla's garden

Anything with ground lemon myrtle leaves was a particular favorite for me (yay that my two plants at home planted this spring have survived and seem to be doing well), as was this delicious coconut based Indian inspired frozen desert - kulfi with home-grown sweet caramelised banana!

But the main purpose of the workshop was to explore and learn about one of the world's most precious colors - yet again sourced from the magic of a plant - indigo and to learn the art and craft of amulet making.  A particularly special welcome to the Bowerbird Blues workshop was from the actual resident bowerbird himself, who had made his stage in an adjacent garden and displayed a collection of blue collected bits and bobs.

What truly amazing things occur in the natural world - Bowerbirds rock!  

Despite a long wait I never actually got to see him in action - but this gorgeous lino print shows the glorious splendor of these delightful birds.

The workshop was a real treat - with our very own bower of beautiful blue inspiration on our arrival.  Indigo dyed cloth from many parts of the world, particularly India, Japan, China and Africa - all key countries that produce indigo (unfortunately with much now being replaced by nasty chemical usurpers. 

A gift of silver materials for our amulet and a mix of blue and white fabrics for dying.

We were introduced to the plant itself - and there are more than one.  Indigofera tinctoria (or true indigo) is the tree on the right of the image below.

The japanese indigo that we used for the workshop is an annual known commonly as dyers knotweed (Persicaria tinctorium).

And we were enlightened on the very ancient history of amulets with some wonderful examples collected by Roz from around the world to inspire our creativity.

A dyed bundle of dyers knotweed was our first result.

And then we watched as the magical green liquid transformed the cloth - green in liquid and then once oxidation occurs when the cloth hits the air the blue color develops.

Before dying, my small amulet (an i-pod holder)...

And then into the indigo vat...

and then the magical transformation into a beautiful sky blue.

We also tried our hand at some hapa-zome (beating color into fabric with plants) using the dyers knotweed leaves.

And I made a small japanese inspired boro (ragged) tsuno bukuo (bag) with some shibori patterns tied into the fabric before dying.

My wee dog Pippa has claimed it as her magical mystery cloak of one colour.

I was first entranced by indigo when I saw a wonderful exhibition in China with ancient urns used for the dying process were on display. 

And then this wonderful and innovative way of displaying traditional woven fabrics.

So pleased to have now seen and experienced the process of indigo dying first hand.

All in all yet another astounding example of the versatility, beauty and inspiration that came come from the plantae kingdom.  How can anyone not be impressed by its wonders - and here are some images of the beautiful rainforest of Tamborine Mountain to prove the point.

The gorgeous staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.) starting off on its epiphytic journey

And becoming absolutely enormous!

As a tribute to the Australian trip and inspired by India Flint's amazing exhibition 'Outback' at the Tamworth Regional Gallery - gathered some leaf litter finds including some old rusty metal and red earth and did a bundled dye experiment.  

 A lovely memory of the great Australian Eucalypt forests of the region and an unforgettable trip.