I have done a number of indigo vats from using a kit, usually purchased from Dharma Trading, using dried powdered indigo and reducing agents. No opportunity before to do a vat from fresh leaves. So, it was a lucky opportunity to visit Ossabaw Island and learn about fresh leaf vats with the expert, Donna Hardy.
Ossabaw is a 26,000 acre barrier island in the state of Georgia, part of Chatham county (the same county Savannah is in). There is a foundation to support the island, which is pretty much undeveloped. There is a guest house, and a home still lived in by the family that donated it to the state. Prior to the Civil War, Ossabaw was farmed and yielded timber, by slave labor. After the Civil War, it was still farmed and served as a hunting retreat.
The indigo outing I joined was sponsored by the Ossabaw Foundation. We took a boat over from a dock just outside of Savannah.
This is a smaller same day vat, that Donna heated with an external heat source.
Here is the vat before heating...you can see the blue of the indicin moving into the water.
Presoaked items were slowly dipped into the vat, swished about for a minute, and then squeezed before removing slowly from the vat, to prevent water dripping and adding oxygen to the vat.
Here are some Gulf Fritallary butterflies on butterly bush, growing together with indigo suffruticosa.
We did a quick tour of the part of the island near the guest house. Here is a tabby structure still remaining on the island.
These tabby structures are former slave quarters, they were inhabited by workers until about 20 years ago.
My hands..I chose not to wear gloves. When I got home, I polished my nails with clear polish. The blue tint came off my skin in a day or two, but my nails were a beautiful indigo blue for several weeks. I would definately recommend it as nail polish~!
Some indigo textiles Donna brought to share.
Ossabaw is a 26,000 acre barrier island in the state of Georgia, part of Chatham county (the same county Savannah is in). There is a foundation to support the island, which is pretty much undeveloped. There is a guest house, and a home still lived in by the family that donated it to the state. Prior to the Civil War, Ossabaw was farmed and yielded timber, by slave labor. After the Civil War, it was still farmed and served as a hunting retreat.
The indigo outing I joined was sponsored by the Ossabaw Foundation. We took a boat over from a dock just outside of Savannah.
Here, participants are stripping leaves from plants for a vat.
The vats that we used, there were four for 14 participants, had been prepped by Donna and her friend the night before, so that the water could warm. The morning we arrived, they added reducing agents to the vats. More reducing agent was added in the middle of the day to keep the vats going.
This is a smaller same day vat, that Donna heated with an external heat source.
Here is the vat before heating...you can see the blue of the indicin moving into the water.
Below are indigo bushes growing around the back porch of the guest house. The indigo was introduced to the island back when indigo was a cash crop in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida until the Revolutionary War. It was introduced by Eliza Lucas Pinckney in South Carolina,with some help, likely from African slaves who had used it in Africa. The indigo introduced by Eliza was the same variety that still is produced in South America. I asked Donna whether anyone has genetically sampled it to see whether it still resembles the indigo still produced there, but she said likely not. (South America is the leading producer of indigo in the world at this point in time).
Presoaked items were slowly dipped into the vat, swished about for a minute, and then squeezed before removing slowly from the vat, to prevent water dripping and adding oxygen to the vat.
Here are some Gulf Fritallary butterflies on butterly bush, growing together with indigo suffruticosa.
We did a quick tour of the part of the island near the guest house. Here is a tabby structure still remaining on the island.
These tabby structures are former slave quarters, they were inhabited by workers until about 20 years ago.
My hands..I chose not to wear gloves. When I got home, I polished my nails with clear polish. The blue tint came off my skin in a day or two, but my nails were a beautiful indigo blue for several weeks. I would definately recommend it as nail polish~!
Some indigo textiles Donna brought to share.
For a more information, here is Donna's TED talk on the subject of indigo
