Indigo is among the oldest  dyes  to be  used  for textiles. Its use dates back to the 7^th century BC. A variety of  plants  produce  indigo dye, but the  most commonly used, because  it has a high  concentration of  indigo is  indigofera tinctoria.

Woad  was used  in Europe, as it  is better  suited  to the  climate, It yields  the  same  dye  substances but at  lower  concentration, producing  beautiful soft blues. Nowadays, synthetic  indigo  is  often used instead  of the  plant varieties.

I use  indigo and  woad in conjunction with ecoprinting  and  also using  ancient Japanese shibori techniques, where  stititching and  clamping are  used  to reserve  parts of the  cloth, leaving a white  pattern against the  blue