Editing Indigo (section)

=== Indigo dye color ===
{{Main|Indigo dye}}
{{infobox color
|title=Indigo Dye
|hex=00416A
|source=[[desktoppub.about.com]]<ref name="electric-coords" />
|isccname=Deep blue}}
''Indigo dye'' is a greenish dark blue color, obtained from either the leaves of the tropical Indigo plant (''[[Indigofera]]''), or from woad (''[[Isatis tinctoria]]''), or the Chinese indigo (''[[Persicaria tinctoria]]''). Many societies make use of the ''[[Indigofera]]'' plant for producing different shades of blue. Cloth that is repeatedly boiled in an indigo dye bath-solution (boiled and left to dry, boiled and left to dry, etc.), the blue pigment becomes darker on the cloth. After dyeing, the cloth is hung in the open air to dry.

A Native American woman described the process used by the [[Cherokee Indians]] when extracting the dye:
<blockquote>We raised our indigo which we cut in the morning while the dew was still on it; then we put it in a tub and soaked it overnight, and the next day we foamed it up by beating it with a gourd. We let it stand overnight again, and the next day rubbed [[tallow]] on our hands to kill the foam. Afterwards, we poured the water off, and the sediment left in the bottom we would pour into a pitcher or crock to let it get dry, and then we would put it into a poke made of cloth (i.e. sack made of coarse cloth) and then when we wanted any of it to dye [there]with, we would take the dry indigo.<ref>{{Citation |contribution=History of the Cherokees, 1830–1846 |title=Chronicles of Oklahoma |last1=Knight |first1=Oliver |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|place=Oklahoma City|year=1956–57|page=164|oclc=647927893 |language=en }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-last=Foreman|author-first=Grant|title=The Five Civilized Tribes|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|year=1934|page=283|language=en|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGtLnSkqkekC&q=We+raised+our+indigo&pg=PA283|isbn=978-0-8061-0923-7|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=30 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630145344/https://books.google.com/books?id=gGtLnSkqkekC&q=We+raised+our+indigo&pg=PA283|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

In [[Sa Pa]], Vietnam, the tropical Indigo (''Indigo tinctoria'') leaves are harvested and, while still fresh, placed inside a tub of room-temperature to lukewarm water where they are left to sit for 3 to 4 days and allowed to ferment, until the water turns green. Afterwards, crushed limestone ([[pickling lime]]) is added to the water, at which time the water with the leaves are vigorously agitated for 15 to 20 minutes, until the water turns blue. The blue pigment settles as sediment at the bottom of the tub. The sediment is scooped out and stored. When dyeing cloth, the pigment is then boiled in a vat of water; the cloth (usually made from yarns of [[hemp]]) is inserted into the vat for absorbing the dye. After hanging out to dry, the boiling process is repeated as often as needed to produce a darker color.
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