Indigo Dyers At Work In Courtyard

Four artisans in dark indigo-dyed robes work at large ceramic vats sunk into a stone courtyard, dipping folded cloth into deep blue dye. Overhead, dozens of finished textiles hang from bamboo poles under a thatched roof, each patterned differently with circles, spiderwebs, stripes and grids in white against indigo. One man lifts a dripping cloth from a steaming pot while another twists fabric around a wooden frame to bind a pattern before dyeing. A folding table nearby holds pattern-marked cloths, brushes and small bowls, and bundles of dried indigo leaves hang drying near a low stone wall at the courtyard's edge. Beyond the workshop's open sides, green trees and a distant house complete the yard. Each hanging cloth carries its own pattern, so the covered rafters already read like a finished catalog above the vats.