Circle or square? You decide! I shaped these for maximum ambiguity that refuses to resolve to one category or another. Like you? Or like the end of a line of a John Donne poem?
The color is so complex. At times the gold of the marigold shines through. Other times the emerald of the indigo makes these appear almost black. Bright sterling silver hardware presents these pleasing puzzles with simplicity. Brought to a shine with a hand-rubbed tung oil and shellac finish.
Dimensions: 2" wide by 2.25" long
Petroleum free (except for a tiny dot of superglue)
Local dye
Square Peg? Round Hole?
Marigold's yellow comes from the compound lutein. Word nerds might recognize in that the Latin for "egg." Marigold's yellow is in fact egg yolk yellow, which is why some people feed their chickens marigold: to deepen the yolk color. I have also seen lutein supplements for humans in the grocery store. We grow marigold as a pest control measure in the tomato and basil row. I'll spare you the story about the moth larvae that chewed their way through a bunch of my blossom harvest, but suffice it to say, it was an intensely yellow situation.
Indigo has such a complicated history. Botanically, it's a fascinating case of how the same dye compound can be found in different plants continents apart. Unfortunately, the patterns of exploitation around this remarkable dye are all too much the same. Because indigo so easily dyes cotton, its demand skyrocketed as plantation slavery and the industrialization of cotton mills made cotton fabric so cheap and abundant. As colonizers found new sources of indigoferin, they also found new ways to coerce indigenous peoples across the world into the complex extraction, fermentation, and dyeing processes. When synthetic dyes became widely available, families that had suffered such abuse under colonial rule understandably wanted nothing more to do with it. As interest in natural dyes has increased, so too has attention to fair trade and the enormous harm of previous indigo production. My dye sources work with communities to try to right the wrongs, educate artists and consumers, and support the reskilling and sustainable compensation of the communities that hold the knowledge of indigo dye.
