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| China, Guizhou Province, Gejia Miao woman drying batik fabric (photo pinned from images search yahoo.com) |
In China the production of Indigo was grown and used in a much different way than the large scale operations in India where the export trade of dying and printing textiles fueled the scale of production. Although there were some large scale farms in China, the majority of farmers grew their indigo crops in between rows of rice resulting in a smaller harvest. Small fermenting vats and jars of indigo could be found stored for dying the family's clothing and other necessary textiles. Some small farmers did produce indigo for sale but the quality of the indigo paste was found to spotty and unreliable. The method for producing indigo was similar to India but Chinese farmers instead added slaked lime to the fermented liquid creating a paste that could be used locally and within a year rather than a dry cake that India's merchants preferred for trading.
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Miao jacket Early-Mid 20th Century Applique on indigo dyed cotton(image found on cavinmorris.com) |
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