In 2003 I was fortunate to visit the Akha village of Ban Nammat Mai on the day the villagers from that and its sister village Ban Nammat Gao got together to dye their cotton. At the time, I was under the impression (not knowing anything about textile dyes) that this was the old traditional method, using natural dyes. The result looked very dark, close to black. It was only three years later that i learned about the traditional indigo process, such as practiced by Lantien villages, documented in an other gallery on this site.

To date, i am not sure whether the Akha process, shown here, uses natural or synthetic dyes. The Master Dyer showed me his mix of powders in a bucket, red, black powders mixed with ashes. I'll publish it here, and anyone who knows more then me is kindly asked to put me right about this mystery.