Throughout ancient history and the days of the early emperors, the art of indigo dyeing (aizome) has been practised in Japan.  Only the upper classes were allowed to wear clothes with bright and elaborate colours.   With its proposed dirt repelling and antimicrobial qualities, common people and everyday Japanese workers adopted the use of deep blue indigo as the basis for colouring their clothing.   The use of indigo, and the magic of Shibori is still entrenched in Japanese fashion and crafts today.
 
Aoi Umi™ (which means blue ocean) is a 100% natural indigo powder derived from the botanical Persicaria tinctoria.  The indigo itself is made following a traditional process of drying mature leaves, and fermentation steps.
 
Indigo is a wonderful, colourful dye yielding everything from pale blue through to navy and dark blues depending on the number of dips required.  It is perfect for all fibres including cotton, bamboo, hemp, silk and wool.  It is also the basis for the art of the manual resist dyeing technique otherwise known as Shibori.
 
It should be noted, that indigo needs to be used in a dye vat with an alkaline pH, and also an oxygen reducer.  There are many different recipes, and ingredients which can reduce indigo.  However, for good results, we recommend a simple method using soda ash (for pH alkalinity) plus the use of an oxygen reducer such as Thiourea dioxide (also termed Spectralite or THIOX).  
 
Aoi Umi™ indigo dye is supplied in a presentation kawaii box with 25g indigo dye powder.  Please note this is not a kit, other components such as soda ash and thiox need to be purchased separately.  There is an option to add Soda Ash and Thiox on selecting your purchase options.
 
Please store your dyes out of reach of children, out of sunlight and under dry conditions.