Fresh Leaf Indigo

About this work

A shibori piece dyed with fresh Japanese indigo leaves (Persicaria tinctoria) using the namaha-zome method, where raw leaves are hand-ground in cold water and the silk is dyed directly in the green juice. Unlike a fermented indigo vat, fresh-leaf dyeing yields the signature turquoise-leaning blue that only living leaves can produce, and only during the short summer harvest window. Hand-bound resist, no blender, no mordant: leaf, water, silk, and air.