It’s a misty summer morning in Udaipur, tucked in the southern region of Rajasthan. Today’s weather forecast is 36 degrees Celsius – perfect conditions for fermentation.
If I have been attentive enough, the ingredients are high quality, conditions are right and the stars are aligned, today I will have a naturally fermented indigo vat in which to colour my cloth.
Once the lid is gently prised off and set aside, immediately the eye watering scent of ammonia fills my nostrils. Physically, my body wants to recoil from this pungent aroma, but my fascination with this extraordinary solution and excitement for the colours that I will be able to draw from it brings me closer.
One by one, I gently lower my fabric into the vat, working the indigo through the fibres under the watchful eyes. I believes in learning through watching and then by practise. so I was seeing the person demonstrate the indigo and performed many rehearsals in clear water before we put I hands in this sacred liquid.
As I remove my pieces from the vat, they’re a golden, green colour. After a few minutes of gently waving them in the air, they oxidise to that indigo blue that we all know so well. Repeated immersion and working in the vat deepens these blues. I lost count after hours of working in the indigo, but I estimate that I immersed one piece over 13 times, resulting in a deep, midnight blue.
