Six dips in natural indigo, aired between each one. Quieter than a synthetic navy, and it holds up far better in light.
Indigo does not dissolve. It is reduced to a colourless form, taken onto the fibre, and then oxidises back to blue in contact with air. So each dip only puts down a little, and depth has to be built up by repeating. Six is where we and the dyehouse settled: any more and the hand starts to go boardy.
No two vats come out identical. If an order has to cross vats we say so up front and send a cutting from each, so the decision is the customer’s rather than a surprise.
Gilt thread on an olive ground, drawn from a seventeenth-century fragment. A 48 cm repeat, and 2,400 cards to weave one of them.
Figure and ground are the same thread. The pattern exists only as a difference in how two structures reflect. Flat light hides it; raking light brings it up.
An 8 momme gauze given a water-repellent finish. A drop sits on the air trapped between the threads instead of spreading into them.
Bring a swatch, a drawing, or just a sentence — "it should drape without going soft" is enough to start. We work backwards from yarn count. Minimum run 30 metres.