Indigo – dyeing and printing

Indigo:

Indigo was actually a plant that got its name because it came from the Indus Valley, discovered some thousands of years ago, where it was called nila, meaning dark blue.

The demand for it picked up in 1600’s even though it was discovered long back. Dye could be made from two different types of plants . One is the indigo plant, which produced the best results. The other one is the woad plant.

There are few types of Indigo:  Some colors are very dark near to violet, some of them there deep blue. The color comes from dyes look different color with dark blue.

The Indigo is extracted from the plant leaves is white in color and percentage of its presence in leaves is very less. It is white in color and when exposed to air it gives the blue color. These leaves are soaked in water and fermented. The powder obtained from fermented  is mixed with chemical called Iye to make powder, cakes. This powder is them mixed with different substances to produce different shades of blue and purple.

Indigo was used in India and it is one of the major enter for earlier production and processing. It is one of the oldest dyeing and printing process in textile world. Because of its rare availability, it is having high significance. Earlier only royal families used to wear them.

Now a days most of the dyes are synthetic ones. Natural dyes making is laborious process and it is difficult to find them very often. Very few people are still following the natural dyeing processes.

Now a days, dyeing process is becoming rare and printing is taking huge market.

Indigo fabrics in cotton, Cotton sarees, Chanderi sarees are appreciated by women of all generations. Cotton fabrics are used for kurta/kurti/palazzo/blouses etc. Even Men’s kurtas also made with cotton fabrics.