Wow that is so cool! I also make paint so when I was in India I really wanted to get my hands on some true indigo. In the end I ran out of time, but as I was complaining to my husband about this at the airport I saw they sold some at the gift shop! I'm sure it's pretty low quality but at least I managed to find some, yay.
I love this story, and I am very jealous of this experience :) I am surprised they didn´t know Indigo was a dye.
My parents travelled to Morocco in June. They saw indigo at a market and brought me some in rocks and powder form. I have been wondering if it´s real indigo or not, specially the powder has such a bright color that it doesn´t seem completely natural to me.
Do you know if there is some way to test if it´s natural or a synthetic imitation? (other than taking it to a laboratory).
There is a way to tell if indigo is natural or synthetic, using gas chromatography. Synthetic indigo has more aniline in it than natural. I think I have heard that you can use carbon dating too. But the synthesized molecule is exactly the same as the natural molecule - the blue is exactly the same - bright!! So natural indigo can look a little bit more murky in the powder form than the synthetic because it might have a few organic extra ingredients in the powder, like indigo red and brown compounds. Or it could be the same bright blue if iti has had a high quality extraction.
Wow that is so cool! I also make paint so when I was in India I really wanted to get my hands on some true indigo. In the end I ran out of time, but as I was complaining to my husband about this at the airport I saw they sold some at the gift shop! I'm sure it's pretty low quality but at least I managed to find some, yay.
It’s lovely to get a pigment from the country you are in
I love this story, and I am very jealous of this experience :) I am surprised they didn´t know Indigo was a dye.
My parents travelled to Morocco in June. They saw indigo at a market and brought me some in rocks and powder form. I have been wondering if it´s real indigo or not, specially the powder has such a bright color that it doesn´t seem completely natural to me.
Do you know if there is some way to test if it´s natural or a synthetic imitation? (other than taking it to a laboratory).
There is a way to tell if indigo is natural or synthetic, using gas chromatography. Synthetic indigo has more aniline in it than natural. I think I have heard that you can use carbon dating too. But the synthesized molecule is exactly the same as the natural molecule - the blue is exactly the same - bright!! So natural indigo can look a little bit more murky in the powder form than the synthetic because it might have a few organic extra ingredients in the powder, like indigo red and brown compounds. Or it could be the same bright blue if iti has had a high quality extraction.
It was a fabulous experience
i had a lot of fun reading about this (money bags malae!) ;)
Always grateful to you 💛
Fascinating to read 🩵
Thanks 🙏
As I read down to the amazing colour, I wondered what you might do with it Helen, so I laughed at your closing line. Have fun!
Oh how cool! So is this recipe not quite lost then. Indigo seems to be as bright as synthetics to me!
Fortunately the recipe is on the internet! It is such a startling blue, it feels magical
I'm loving this story, thanks for sharing. Also, the colour is amazing
Isnt it such an amazing colour?💙