On Daufuskie Island, an 8-square-mile barrier island off the coast of South Carolina, life is slow—golf carts and bicycles far outnumber cars—and the 400 or so full-time residents prefer it that way. It’s here where two of those residents, good friends Leanne Coulter and Rhonda Davis, use indigo to dye fabrics in a former two-room schoolhouse, still donning its original chalkboards. Whether they’re dyeing a dish towel, a scarf, a table runner or perhaps a shawl, each piece is one of a kind, and Coulter and Davis love when visitors to the island stop by so they can walk them through the dyeing process. They twist and fold the fabric before bathing it in the indigo to create unique patterns, and the length of the soak determines how dark or light the hue will be.
(photographed for The Local Palate)
