Welcome to the first installment of Mon.tage, a series of posts for Mondays showcasing a select group of images corresponding to themes I’m working with or researching in the studio at the moment.
Indigo: the name was coined by Issac Newton when he discovered the color’s existence in the prismatic spectrum. Yet, the color *we* know daily comes from a plant-based dye that goes back to ancient Greece and beyond.
After researching a little over the weekend, I not only found images of the plant, but also read about it’s history and use – and the cultures that have been touched by it – the slaves who farmed it, the ships that carried it – the color that makes blue jeans blue.
links:
Indigo Dye – also above in it’s dry form and plant form
Japanese Boro Vest and Gee’s Bend Workwear Quilts: similar – and worlds apart.
| Design © SusyJack*, 2013
A true indigo color is so beautiful, I think I forgot after seeing so many fakes everyday, everywhere. This is a lovely reminder.
Agreed! You are so right. The real color is special. It has “moods” because it’s a natural dye, I think…I personally am a fan of the very, very dark color of the powder/dry dye. It’s almost black, but not black.
Beautiful quilts!
http://www.myqueenbquilts.com
I love this! Indigo is such a fascinating plant. Beautiful images, Susy!
Happy to hear you liked my first “real” post, my dear! One of the things I really love about looking deeper into things is that everything has a story — the history of this plant is incredible… and I was really struck at how many of the dyed pieces I found shared something, even though they’re from different cultural regions.