"It's stinky!" shouts my 4-year-old daughter, jumping up and down with an expression of pure glee on her face. The object of her fascination is a large vat containing a dark, murky substance that does indeed have a distinctly earthy aroma.
Its contents? Pure indigo dye, made from plants, into which my daughter is about to happily plunge her arms up to her shoulders (fortunately wearing several layers of plastic gloves to prevent her from turning blue).
Taking part in any activity that involves making a monumental mess — be it Jackson Pollock-style paint flicking or cracking eggs into a bowl while making a cake — is undoubtedly one of my daughter's favorite pastimes. I knew without a second's hesitation that, like pretty much all energetic and curious 4-year-olds, she would fully embrace a children's workshop exploring the world of Japanese aizome — traditional indigo dyeing.