Day 7 Friday May 17, Day 8 Sat May 18, Day 9, Sunday May 19

Friday May 17

Morning stir:

pH before stirring - 10.8

after stirring - 10.5

just little bubbles around the edges. It's actually less bubbly than it was the first couple of days. Later I will dip some water color paper in and see what it does....

Evening stir:

After stirring tonight it is still at 10.9. Even flashed into the 11's a little before it settled on 10.9.

I brought it out of the shop today and set it in the sun, and now it is in my studio, which feels warmish, but I don't know the temperature. Probably high 60's or so now - that is what the kitchen is and it feels about the same.

A good sign I guess is that some of the dry splash further up the side of the barrel looks blue.

The water color paper is still brownish yellow.

Today is day 7.

The book says  "If you prepared the lye water with a pH of 11.5, it might take 5 to 7 days for the fermenting to start, but these variations are okay. The most important thing is to wait for the indigo flower to form on the surface of the indigo vat."

So, patience is the virtue we are seeking.

But I think we're doing okay...

 

Saturday May 18 

Morning stir:

So I'm still not really seeing what I would call the indigo flower. There are bubbles around the edges is all. But the pH this morning was 10.1. So I think I need to add the lime today. 

The process is to add lime - about half of what we added the first time, or whatever amount needed to keep the pH above 10.5.

And then 24 hours after adding lime to add more lye water.

So today I need to check the pH of my lye water and maybe make some fresh...

24 hours after adding lye water the first time, I add more, then a third batch after another 24 hours.

So the schedule is:

lime today

lye water Sunday

lye water Monday

lye water Tuesday

more lime on Wednesday

Ready to dye on Thursday

Mid afternoon:

Just checked and pH was 10, fluctuating down to 9.8 before it settled.

Added lime, not quite as much as I was supposed to and it is now over 12.

But look at what it did to the pH meter - that was even before I added lime!

That tip used to be the same gray color as the rest of it.

 

 

 

Saturday evening stir

Perfection

I was a little worried that I'd put too much lime in because the pH was over 12 when I finished.

But tonight's stirring just now, it was about 11.4 before stirring and exactly 11 when I finished, which is exactly where it should be.

It's working!

Pictures are before and after stirring...

It's in the studio with a seedling heating mat under it, which should keep it around 70.

 

Sunday May 19:

morning stir:

10.7 before

exactly 11.0 after

I will be happy to add lye water this afternoon, to start diluting the sludge a bit!