The second-cut Japanese indigo was harvested, partly sun-dried and partly made into precipitated indigo, indigo paste and dried indigo cakes before the autumn seed harvest.
Part 2 of making precipitated indigo: circulate the liquid with a small pump, observe the foam, settle the pigment and remove the clear upper liquid to obtain indigo paste.
A step-by-step method for soaking Japanese indigo leaves, adding slaked lime, agitating the liquid and settling the pigment for storage.
Indian indigo grown from tiny seeds flowered, produced seed, survived winter and reached its first harvest before an initial attempt to make precipitated indigo.
Japanese indigo is strained after soaking, mixed with slaked lime and agitated. The pigment settles into indigo paste, which is dried and powdered.