MaterialIndigofera tinctoria, the indigo plant. Source: Wikimedia Commons
A plant dye that gives blue, from pale sky to near-black. One of the three pillars of the Turkmen palette, alongside madder red and undyed ivory.
Indigo is the plant dye behind every blue in a Turkmen rug, from pale sky to a blue so deep it reads as black. With madder red and undyed ivory, it is one of the three pillars of the classic palette.
Indigo is unusual among dyes: it will not dissolve in water on its own and needs a living, alkaline fermentation vat. In the old workshops the spent madder root, left over after the red was drawn out, was fed into that vat to nourish the bacteria, a quiet zero-waste loop between the two main dyes.
