Indigo In Sa pa
Indigo dyeing is a trademark of the H’mong tribe. It is an ancestral tradition upheld from generation to generation. Each dye work is an intricate process and a labour of love.
Indigo - richer than blue,
deeper than the ocean
Indigo dyeing has been admired for millennia for its captivating bluish hue and the fascinating methods which make it possible. Since the indigo plant was relatively rare, garments that had been dyed with indigo were once seen as incredibly precious and only accessible for royalty. As indigo synthesizing has become more common, these items have become a beloved wardrobe essential around the world for people of all ages and social classes. However, pure indigo dyeing has now grown increasingly rare - only a handful of tribes around the world have passed down their indigo dyeing skills through the generations.
The indigo plant, scientifically known as Indigofera tinctoria, was first discovered in Peru about 6000 years ago. Immediately cherished for the beautiful dye it created, many cultures worked to domesticate the plant. It was first cultivated in India, a nod to its name Indigo - meaning “from India”.
For centuries, the scarcity of indigo-dyed clothing exclusively reserved it for the elites. However, the success of Blue Jeans in the 1870s greatly contributed to the widespread circulation of indigo dye. Patented by Jacob W. Davis and Levi Strauss, blue jeans emerged as ‘worker-pants’ but quickly became regarded as a wardrobe staple globally. As demand for jeans skyrocketed, chemists and large fashion companies raced to synthesize indigo dye and make it more readily accessible.
By the end of the 19th century, German chemist Adolf von Baeyer successfully synthesized indigo dye by isolating the isatin, a cheaper and more convenient alternative to indigo dye. Soon after, several companies began working to synthesize indigo and industrialize isatin. The newfound availability of isatin made blue jeans and other isatin-dyed garments a popular item for people across genders, ages, and social classes.
In the 21st century, garments dyed with isatin are readily accessible. Most blue jeans and indigo-hued clothing items are made using isatin. It is quite rare to find producers of pure indigo, and there are few artisans left in the world who have retained the skill of pure indigo dyeing.
As the process of indigo dye has become increasingly scarce and precious, travellers and textile enthusiasts have become fascinated with the few tribes that continue to work with pure indigo. TextileSeekers has been fortunate enough to experience the method of pure indigo dyeing firsthand through the tribes of Sa Pa. They have passed down their indigo dyeing techniques for generations to ensure that their products and textiles remain captivating and alluring.
Sa Pa is a town nestled deep in the mountains of North Vietnam, close to the Chinese border. Situated in the midst of verdant valleys, lush green mountains and carved rice terraces, Sa Pa is almost always cloudy, with a cool climate that evokes peace and tranquility. This rustic yet invigorating atmosphere makes Sa Pa one of the prime destinations for TextileSeekers’ Vietnam solo travel.
Sa Pa is home to several different hill tribes, with each tribe holding onto cherished individual traditions, customs, languages, and textiles. The tribes create their own fabrics, incorporating unique symbols, designs and patterns to their garments as a means of representation and as a way to distinguish themselves from one another. The major hill tribes of Sa Pa are the H’mong, Red Dao, Tay, and Giay while the minor tribes include the Muong, Thai, Hoa, and Xa Pho tribes.
The various tribes in Sa Pa strive to produce and make beautiful fabrics using ingenious ancestral techniques while drawing inspiration and acquiring raw materials from their surroundings. Indigo dyeing is an art that would appeal to many creatives, therefore Sa Pa is an excellent location, ideal for Vietnam solo female travel as well as for exploring and learning more about ethnic textile dyeing techniques. Sa Pa is also geographically suited for cultivating cotton, hemp plants and indigo plants, which explains the region’s revered status as a source of natural dyeing.
HOW TO DYE INDIGO
Of all the tribes, the H’mong tribe is the tribe with the most history in indigo dyeing. Being the oldest tribe in Sa Pa, the H’mong people have been dyeing their fabrics long before settling down in the region. They believe that the colour of fabric donned by a person plays a major rolein his or her life.
The following steps describe the stages of indigo dyeing:
STEP 1: INITIAL PREPARATION
Working with the indigo plant is very complicated and requires a lot of experience and time.
It takes about 8 to 9 months for the indigo plants to be fully cultivated and harvested in Sa Pa. The land has to be plowed before the planting begins. The process is timed for July or August, when young seedlings are laid into the tilled soil; the harvest will be ready in April and May. During harvest, the best branches will be singled out to keep for the next cultivation cycle.
A specific variety of indigo plant, known as Assam indigo, a.k.a big leaf indigo is favoured by the H’mong. To make indigo dye, the leaves and stems will be bundled together, then used to create the famous indigo dye through a series of processes.
STEP 2: MAKE CONCENTRATED INDIGO
The leaves and stems are soaked in water for 3 days in a large wooden vat until the indigo resin dissolves. While fermentation has long been associated with food and wine, it is in Sa Pa where you will learn that the indigo plants have to be fermented in vats until they react and change colour, before the dye can be made. After a few days, the water of the mixture changes colour by turning clear green, and the resin starts quietly bubbling, indicating the reaction is completed. The bundles of leaves and stems are removed and discarded. The leftover residue is then removed by adding a small quantity of limestone powder and the solution is stirred then plunged.
The plunging action will activate the oxygenation process, and help the green water change further to blue. When the limestone mixture settles to the bottom of the vat, water has to be removed. The mixture is filtered through a thickly woven hemp fabric, where water flows away to produce a viscous glue-like substance, known as the dye concentrate. The dye concentrate can last for as long as a year.
STEP 3: INDIGO DYE VATS
The dye concentrate is then mixed with alcohol and slowly stirred until it begins bubbling. The addition of lime should be done carefully and in precise quantity because it would affect the colour of the indigo dye. The next step would be to choose good quality hardwood for high-temperature burning to get the wood ash as well as boil the dye concentrate. Smaller stones are arranged atop larger stones for the vat of concentrated dye mixture to be placed securely on top and then a fire is ignited. Ash, which is considered worthless in many other cultures, is a crucial and valued element in the creation of indigo dye here in Sa Pa.
Mugwort, a local medicinal plant, is then mixed with the wood ashes and placed in a basket on top of the wooden vat containing the indigo concentrate. Pure spring water from a mountain gorge is added and filters through the basket of Mugwort and ash, before dripping into the indigo concentrate. The mixture is stirred twice a day then leave to rest with the lid of the vat being covered up to protect the resting mixture.
After a few days, the indigo dye usually begins to emit a sweet fragrance that reminds one of the aroma of tea, and eventually starts bubbling. The mixture has transformed into an alluring blue hue, indicating that the indigo is ready for dyeing.
Nature plays a big part in the creation of indigo dye and the H’mong tribe is well aware of this. The people know exactly what to do to concoct the perfect vat of indigo dye.
In the warm summer months, they will add more water to the mixture so the indigo is kept fresh and will not dry out. In winter, when warmth is scarce, a stone will be placed in fire to absorb heat then placed in the middle of the vat to keep the dye mixture warm. Great care and devotion is given to each vat so as to yield the best indigo dye.
STEP 4: DYEING THE FABRICS
Hemp is the common fabric used by the H’mong tribe for dyeing. Hemp is also the garment worn by the tribe. A hemp fabric is dipped in freshwater to soak for about an hour in a vat so it is cleansed thoroughly before being dyed. Then the patterns are drawn on the fabric using beeswax melted over coal fire and a special pen with a metal tip known as “tjanting”. This technique is called batik (we will be posting about batik in the next coming weeks), which is another traditional craft preserved by the H’mong.
The fabric with the waxed drawing is then soaked in the dye and left to dry out in the sun with the beeswax acting as a protective layer to keep the dye on the desired areas. Afterwards, if the artisan is not satisfied, the fabric is soaked again. The amount of times the fabric is dipped depends on the goal of the artisan because the more times the fabric is dipped, the darker the colour of the fabric becomes.
Once the dyed fabric is ready, it will be hung outdoors, under a shaded area, to be air-dried. This will take half a day to two days depending on the weather condition and the size of the fabric.
The Black H’mong tribe takes about 4 to 6 months to dye a fabric black while the Blue H’mong tribe takes 3 days to a month to dye a fabric blue. Each dye work is an intricate process and a labour of love. Infused within this exquisite shade of indigo blue is generations of knowledge as well as time-honoured practice and years of experience by each artisan.