Indigo Dye!

Indigo is among the oldest dyes used for textile dyeing and printing.

The dye was also known to ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece and Rome but India is believed to be the oldest center for indigo dyeing in the Old World. Today most indigo dyes are synthetic but the color is just as beautiful as the extracted plant dyes from ancient times.

I dyed this cotton using a synthetic indigo dye and then over dyed with a lighter, brighter blue. This picture might not capture the color contrast well but it's actually rather dramatic - it almost glows!