Pale Indigo

More cleaning up . . . it had been 2 weeks since I used the indigo vat. Last time I used it, I thought I was finished with it and had skimmed off the "flower" to evaporate so I could use the residue as a pigment paint.
I thought I would try setting the vat in the corner of the workshop for the winter to see if it could be revived next summer. (I hate to dispose of all those chemicals if they can be used again!).

Well, when I peeked in the vat - I was surprised to see it was still active! Hmmm . . .
Another creative task I could do with a broken arm!
So, I scrambled around for a few items I'd be able to dye.

It was tough getting a rubber glove on over my brace, and I ripped one doing so.

Surprisingly, this group of items yielded a much paler shade of indigo. The two yardage samples above are from left Ecology Cloth (natural cotton) and Cotton Broadcloth (bleached and mercerized. Below, I have included a yard of the Ecology cloth I dyed in July - so much darker!
Each of these were dipped only once.

This cotton cable sweater was purchased from the clearance rack at Target.
The T-shirt below came from my brother-in-law during a visit last spring.
It was ripped around the neck and he gave it to me as a paintshirt. I decided to alter it a bit before dipping.

This turned out to be a very comfortable summer top - I've already worn it!