While in Vientiane, I went to Carol Cassidy’s shop, Lao Textiles. Lao Textiles was founded 14 years ago and was the first foreign business in Laos…it produces museum quality textiles designed by Carol Cassidy, based on traditional Lao patterns and woven by some very skilled weavers. They were kind enough to let me take photos in their workshop…they also introduced me to a natural dyer named Dong, who was kind enough to do a natural dye demo for me.


Indigo dyevats at the Japanese weaving center. Indigo is nearly unique among natural dyes in that it is a vat dye--it is dyed cold and the color is built up through successive dips.
Natural indigo contains both indigo blue and indigo red--they are both vat dyes, but dye at slightly different temperatures. A cold dyebath gives a bluish cast, a warm dyebath a redder blue.