INDIGO ....a Natural Dye.....El Salvador

                                                                        INDIGO ARTIST

     Indigo is an herb plant that grows wild in Central America.  It was a main export crop in El Salvador between the 16th-19th centuries  until Coffee took over in 1872.  In the Colonial period only nobles could wear indigo dyed clothes daily, and others only during Festivals.  Today everyone can wear "denim" blue jeans that have indigo dyed cotton yarn.  Indigo natural dye has regained popularity even though artificial chemical dyes are widely used.  Indigo is environmentally friendly.

The Blue House

     I visited an Indigo artisan that lives in a pretty "Blue" house in a small village, Santiago Nonualco.  She uses cotton fabric because it takes the natural dye best.  Every Indigo artist has unique designs, and no two designs are the same.

     They must first gather the Indigo leaves and a few branches which are then piled up, and they macerate the leaves and branches in water for 12-14 hours until the water turns a green-blue color.  The next step is to agitate the water until it foams white and then let it rest until the next day.  The indigo dye forms a sediment at the bottom of the water that is gathered using sponges.  At this stage its a semi-liquid, and it can be filtered through a cloth until a dark blue paste is formed.  Then it is dried out into a powder in order to store the dye for later use, or it can be added to very hot water for dying the cotton fabric.