Making an Organic Indigo Vat

Note before reading: This blog was written in 2018, when I was studying for my MA (hence the Harvard referencing!). Where needed, I have edited these posts to correct any factual inaccuracies. This post was last edited Nov 2025.

The 1-2-3 organic indigo vat method is explained fully in my 2023 book Dyeing Yarn Naturally, available to buy in my shop or in all good booksellers.

After a workshop I attended last year, I was really keen to try making an indigo vat of my own. Flora, the workshop facilitator, told me about the 1-2-3 method coined by Michael Garcia.

The ratios are:

• 1 part indigo

• 2 parts lime (calcium hydroxide)

• 3 parts fructose

The Botanical Colors blog has a great step-by-step guide, which I followed to create the vat. The process was fair straight forward, which I think was helped by the fact I already had been show how to do this in the workshop.

Once the vat was made I experimented with some basic shibori techniques, wrapping threads around knitted swatches and using pegs as a basic clamp to create resists. I also tried an ombre effect, here I had to be particularly careful not to let the fabric touch the sediment at the bottom of the vat. Some of these were successful, some were not, but I learnt quite a lot by trying just a few folding techniques. I will look into making some wooden blocks to clamp next time.

References:

Botanical Colors. Make an Easy, Organic Indigo Vat. [online][ Available at: https://botanicalcolors.com/2013/02/09/make-an-easy-organic-indigo-vat/