- Newly-ordained monk Tan Dhammavaro bows to Luang Por Pasanno, his Preceptor.
- CittOrd
- The robe is refolded over the clothesline in the second stage of flipping to avoid drip marks and ensure even color saturation.
- Dressed in his triple robe set, Dhammavaro, center, receives his monk ordination from Luang Por Pasanno in the presence of the Abhayagiri monastic community on May 17, 2020.
- Dhammavavro pulls his jiworn from the final dye solution, where it soaked for two hours. The number and duration of baths determine color density and uniformity in a robe - often cloth must be saturated in dye many times for a rich and even color.
- In the third stage of flipping, the dye is massaged into the cloth with the hands so that it remains in the center of the robe.
- Dhammavaro wears heavy gloves to manipulate cloth soaking in the boiling reduction bath, which helps to saturate the garment with dye. Beginning with two 40-gallon barrels of madrone bark, the resulting dye would fill only a single, 10-gallon pot.
- Ven. Dhammavaro poses with his triple robe set - the sabong at his waist, the jiworn across his upper body, the sanghati over his left shoulder. Multiple dyeings yielded a rich brown color distinct to madrone trees and thus unique among Buddhist monks.
- With his head freshly-shaved and robes newly-dyed, Dhammavaro prepares to approach his Preceptor with his requisites and an offering of gifts while his parents Don and Terri look on.
- Dye drips from Dhammavavro's arm as he hangs his jiworn from a clothesline outside the monks' utility building.
- Dhammavaro pours bark from the madrone tree into a pot of boiling water, where it will "steep" and color the liquid just like tea leaves brewing in a tea cup.
- Familiarity with an industrial sewing machine can take time - foot and hand coordination is required to add stitches and maneuver the cloth successfully.
- After sewing is complete, Dhammavaro washes the sanghati with soap and water - this removes any oil his fingers may have left on the garment so that dye will hold to the cloth.
- Doubly-thick, the sanghati requires one to sew four layers at once in a garment sized approximately 300 x 200 centimeters.
- A robe soaks in the mordant bath, where tone begins to appear on the cloth.