What is indigo dyeing?

"About indigo building ③"

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By the way, from here is the production of "Aiken".
If all goes well, it will take about 10 days from the start to the dyeing.

"1: Preparation"
Add moderately loosened jars, lye from No. 3 and later, and boiling water to the indigo jar and stir. At this point, the water content is about half that of the jar.

"2: Putting ingredients"
The day after the preparation, add lime, sake and indigo. This first lime injection is called "Motoishi".
From here, we will stir 4 times a day every day.

From the indigo building to the end of the dyeing period, this stirring work is extremely important and indispensable.

"3: Nakaishi"
This is the second work to add lime.

After filling, it is not decided when, and the reducing bacteria activated by stirring will gradually change the surface of the indigo liquid, and it will be dyed when the cloth is soaked. I will put it in when it is confirmed.

"4: Raise lye"
It is a work to raise the volume of the liquid to the very limit of the edge of the jar by using the 1.2th lye at room temperature and the 3rd or later heated lye. It is also called "raising".

This work is very important, and after Nakaishi, we will do it at the best time while watching all the conditions such as the weight at the time of stirring, the surface and smell of the liquid, etc. If this work is accelerated here, it will be difficult to dye the original color of the indigo.

"5: Tomeishi"
At the last lime addition, it will be done about 10 hours after the lye is raised. From here, stirring once a day will help.

After that, about 3 hours later, the bran is cooked like porridge and the indigo building is completed.

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It will be possible to dye from about 2 days later.