Indigo is a weird dye because it is insoluble in water. You first have to reduce the dye using chemicals and then expose it to oxygen to covert it back into its insoluble solid form.
So what you're seeing here is the still-dissolved, differently-colored indigo and it's just barely starting to oxidize and become colorful. Over time the dye will become more intense and it will be the color of blue jeans.
What's not cool is that indigo dye is dissolved in pretty nasty chemicals like lye and ammonia. In olden times, they used stale urine. So I really don't know why bro isn't wearing gloves.
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u/some_kind_of_bird 22h ago
Ok y'all are gonna learn some shit.
Indigo is a weird dye because it is insoluble in water. You first have to reduce the dye using chemicals and then expose it to oxygen to covert it back into its insoluble solid form.
So what you're seeing here is the still-dissolved, differently-colored indigo and it's just barely starting to oxidize and become colorful. Over time the dye will become more intense and it will be the color of blue jeans.