How do YOU finish your indigo dyed wool textiles?
TL;DR: Just my question in bold below and also...what's your step by step process for finishing after the dipping is complete? Picture is of my clearest rinse water from last time doing this. Both skeins were dipped 5x 30m. I forget how many rinses it took, but I want to say 10?
I'm dipping some wool yarns in an indigo sig vat, and it's going well. I've done it before and that went well too. I could just do what I did before, but I'm just curious what others do because I'm on my own learning this. No guild or dyers to chat with in person.
Specifically, I'm wondering:
On a scale of 1-10, what is your definition of "rinsing until the water runs clear"? 1 would be like tap water, and 10 would be solid color. (edit: and I'm curious about this for natural dyes in general, not just indigo. If I can get the rinse water to a 2 or 3, I call it done).
I have read about several different ways to finish your indigo dyed textiles. They all involve the same steps but sometimes present them in different orders. Some say to let the items dry, MAIWA says to let it sit in the dark for two weeks, everyone says to neutralize it with vinegar, Catharine Ellis says to boil (cellulose) or heat to appropriate hot temperature (proteins) for 10 minutes with "a small amount" of neutral soap.
What I've been doing with this round of dyeing is letting the skein dry after its final dip then doing an overnight soak in the neutralizing bath--figuring I can accomplish an overnight soak and the neutralizing in one step. Then I'm taking MAIWA's advice (because why not) of letting it sit in the dark for two weeks. Then repeated rinses (fill plastic tub with enough water to cover the yarn, squeeze the yarn several times, dump the water in the garden). Most recently, I did this rinse process 8 times for my 2x12h dipped skein, and the rinse water was still at about a 5 or 6 on my scale mentioned above. I might do a couple overnight soaks in plain water or just rinse it eleventy more times. Then do Catharine Ellis's heating thing.
Last year, I'd do an overnight soak in acidic water, an overnight soak in soapy water, let it dry, then several rinses. Usually eight or more.