One of my indigo projects started with this beautiful terrarium garbage pick. Yes, people throw objects like this out around here — in fact, this is the second glass terrarium we’ve found on the curb.

I decided it would make a good stencil, if a little complicated. I had to practice.

In Leverett, Chinatsu, the workshop leader, had some cool hole punches, so I added those dots on either side. We pressed a thin mesh on top prior to using.

You carefully smear rice paste on and hang to dry before wetting, then dunking in the indigo vat for 90 seconds.

This method is called katazome.

These two days reminded me that keeping time is challenging for me (yes! Even 90 seconds with a giant clock in view) (which BTW is different from the ability to show up to things on time, which I do easily). Also, how I make messes became obnoxiously evident (rice paste smears, anyone?) The big tell regarding challenge-level was how tired I got mid-afternoon — even though I was having fun and otherwise not stressed.

After letting the stenciled and dunked cloth drip back into the indigo vat for a bit, you took it out to a rinse station and used a soft paint brush to wipe off the rice paste.

A library of stencils was available to us.

I carved a little bird which I didn’t think would work but did.

I tried a clamping technique, using two boards and two metal Home-Depot-style clamps. First picture (below) shows the clamped result. Subsequent pic shows the clamped-cloth-result with rice paste design.

You can achieve lovely and subtle results by doing two rice paste applications with a dunk in indigo in between. I only tried it two times. Here’s one example, below.

Dots first, triangles second, with dot paste left on for second dip. For a different effect, you could have rinsed off the dot rice paste after dipping it in dye and then applied the triangle paste. The white dots would have been variations of blue and white.

Born and trained in Japan, Chinatsu also spent two years training in India. She was lovely. Highly skilled. Really knowledgeable. Humble, non-intrusive, funny, and yet still an effective instructor.

Lisa and I stayed in Northampton around the corner from where I last lived in 1979 before graduating from UMass. It all seemed shabbier than I remembered. Fewer trains, though, passing on the tracks across the street.

There’s lots more to say about that, but not now and perhaps not publicly.

Even two short days away and I am inordinately glad to be home. Is that a defect or a blessing?