Archived under:

I first heard of this age-old method for dyeing textiles a few years back, from stories about Swedish-Norwegian weaver Hannah Ryggen.

Her plant-dyed woollen yarns and topical political motifs helped to raise tapestry-making from a type of handicraft to an art form.

There was always a urine pot on hand for guests to use, because Ryggen needed male urine. A blue hue made with the aid of urine became the main colour she used in her tapestries, and symbolised the positive aspects of life as well as longing and dreams.

From the website of The Norwegian National Museum

Because of the way it is produced, this color is often referred to as “pot blue” (or even “piss blue”). I’ve written up the steps of the procedure below. You’re welcome!

1x

Instructions for indigo sig vat:

(Instead of indigo, you can use this technique with woad, Isatis tinctoria, which will also give you blue, albeit a slightly different hue.)

  1. Piss in a bucket, every morning for weeks. Maybe don’t tell your wife, keep it secret.
  2. Piss in another bucket every morning for an additional several weeks. Keep that one secret, too.
  3. Wait until the weather gets hot, and the urine is gone real stale.
  4. Add indigo to the bucket with the most piss in it. How much indigo? Let’s say a certain amount … I had about 15 liters (4 gallons) of urine, and I used maybe half a 1-2 deciliter (1/2 cup) of indigo.
  5. Make sure the bucket is in a warm spot. Wait a few days.
  6. Soak some yarn in the bucket which contains no indigo, then transfer the yarn to the bucket which do contain indigo.
  7. Put the lid back on (you have a lid, right?!?) and wait 24 hours.
  8. Fish the yarn out, and hang it to air out for 30-40 minutes.
  9. Back in the indigo bucket it goes.
  10. Repeat step 7-9 until the saturation is to your liking.
  11. Rinse the yarn. Wash it. Rinse more. Wash again, maybe? Rinse. Rinse again. Sniff. Rinse more? Hang to dry.
1x
Wool yarn soaking in a bucketful of stale urine and a sprinkling of Indigofera tinctoria. The odor is pronounced! Photo: Martin Høyem
1x
Hannah Ryggen, “Spania,” 1938. Photo: The National Museum © Hannah Ryggen / BONO
1x
Illustration of indigo plant in 17th-century botanical treatise Hortus Malabaricus. From The Biodiversity Heritage Library
1x
Illustration of woad in A curious herbal: containing five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick. Engraved on folio copper plates, after drawings taken from the life. By Elizabeth Blackwell. To which is added a short description… From The New York Public Library

Bibliography: