Light and Pale Shades of Indigo

Q: What is your recommended amount of indigo for a five gallon vat if I wanted a pale blue, not a dark blue?

A:  The kit comes with a bottle containing 50g of indigo extract. This is plenty to make a very saturated blue dye achievable with only a half dozen dips or so. If you would like a paler blue, it is best to get there with the same number of dips, though each dip will only be a baby step toward deep indigo as opposed to using the full strength of the vat. So, you can mix up the vat as normal (same amount of water, all the iron, all the lime) and simply add 1/4 of the indigo. This will produce a weak vat. When you layer many dips in this vat, you'll get some wondrously rich pale blues. You can save the indigo for later addition or for another vat.