Eileen Hallman, Weaver, Spinner & Dyer of Cotton with Colors of Indigo

Eileen Hallman, Weaver, Spinner & Dyer of Cotton with Colors of Indigo

A little known fact about indigo is that it can dye the primary colors—blue, red, and yellow.  Hallman has been researching the capabilities of this magical plant since taking a fresh leaf indigo workshop with Rowland Ricketts in 2005.  Ricketts is the Associate Dean of the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University and trained in indigo farming and dyeing in Japan.  Most of Hallman’s research dealt with getting indirubin, the pink color, onto cotton.  Having finally broken that barrier, she turned her attention to the green she obtained with an overnight soak in the fresh leaf juice.  In the summer of 2020 she was able to segregate the yellow component that produced that green from what was originally a blue bath. Hallman will share with us the amazing ways Indigo can produce a rainbow of colors.