Sakon Nakhon Indigo Cloth

Indigo-dyed cloth in Thailand is made above all in the north-east, and in Sakon Nakhon in particular, and here it is a household practice rather than an industry. The dye is made from Indigofera plants grown locally, fermented into a paste and then kept in a living vat - a mixture of indigo, ash lye and other ingredients that has to be fed and monitored daily, and which dyers speak of as an organism that can die if neglected. Cotton is dipped repeatedly, oxidising from green to blue between dips, with the depth of colour built over many immersions. The cloth, mo hom, is woven locally and often made into simple shirts and wrap skirts. Villages around Sakon Nakhon open their workshops - visitors can dye a piece, and the vats, the smell and the daily tending are the substance. Buying direct from a household is what keeps the practice paying.

What's there

• The living vats - fermented indigo tended daily like an organism.
• The dipping - cotton oxidising from green to blue between immersions.
• The household workshops - the practice kept at family scale in the villages.
• The province's craft - indigo dyeing, kept up household by household.

When to go

November to February. Workshops work on weekdays and visits are best arranged locally rather than turning up. Half a day covers a village and a dyeing session.

What to expect

These are family workshops, not a museum - arrange visits and ask before photographing. Indigo stains skin and clothing and does not wash out. Little English spoken. A car is needed to reach the villages.

Nearby

Sakon Nakhon town and Wat Phra That Choeng Chum are central; Phu Phan is south.