Inheritance of tie-dyeing

Tie-dyed cloth is a unique craft product of Bai nationality, which can be seen everywhere in Dali urban and rural areas. Tie-dyeing not only represents a tradition, but also has become a fashion. Tie-dyeing is popular because of its unique personality different from other dyed fabrics. It is simple and natural, and the white flowers on the blue ground are elegant and unobtrusive, which conforms to people's feelings, is close to people's lives and is full of human nature. It is synthesized by people's hardworking, simple, pure, honest, kind, optimistic, cheerful and hospitable characters and interests. Tie-dyeing has become a special cultural symbol and a symbol of national traditional art in people's minds.

According to the record of real utensils, "there was a method of dyeing Valerian in the Han Dynasty, and I don't know who made it." Judging from the costumes of the characters in Nanzhao Kingdom Biography and John Zhang Wenhua Juan, the ancestors of Bai people knew how to express dyed and picked patterns as early as 1000 years ago. Especially in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, tie-dyeing has become a folk fashion in Bai areas, and tie-dyeing products have also become a tribute of the emperor. Tie-dyeing of Bai nationality in Dali is a traditional folk craft product of Bai nationality, which integrates culture and art. Its flower-shaped pattern is composed of regular geometric patterns, and its layout is rigorous and full. It is mostly based on animal and plant images and clothing patterns of royal aristocrats in previous dynasties, and it is full of life. Tie-dyeing is divided into two links: tie-dyeing and dip-dyeing. Flower-tying is a manual flower-tying method based on sewing and combination sewing. It has the characteristics of wide range of expression, exquisite description and endless changes: manual repeated dip dyeing process forms a multi-level blooming pattern centered on flower shape, which is dignified and elegant, simple and elegant. Products include hundreds of varieties, such as colored cloth, tablecloth, curtain, clothing, ethnic bags, hats, towels, scarves, pillow towels and sheets.

In recent years, Bai women in Xizhou, Dali have developed a new hand-made color tie-dyeing printing and dyeing technology by combining pattern art, ancient tie-dyeing technology and modern printing and dyeing technology. Color tie-dyeing breaks through the limitations of traditional monochromatic tie-dyeing tones, emphasizing the coordination of multi-colors and the unity of colors. Using the difference of width, narrow, loose, tight, sparse and dense when sewing, the dyeing depth is different, forming the artistic effect of different patterns. It is particularly worth mentioning that in some Bai areas, a craft product called "anti-simple imitation tie-dyeing" is emerging. Anti-simple imitation tie-dyeing is a new technology developed on the basis of ancient tie-dyeing, like tie-dyeing instead of tie-dyeing, like splashing instead of painting, and the pattern has two styles: tie-dyeing and splashing. Its characteristic is that the tie-dyeing process is omitted, and the color halo level of the pattern is richer, showing a mixed, colorful and heavy color effect. Color tie-dyeing and anti-simple imitation tie-dyeing have the same melody and different techniques, which can produce a hazy and flowing style and return to natural beauty, better express the object and add artistic charm. Tie-dyeing process is divided into two parts: knotting and dyeing. It uses tools such as yarn, thread and rope to tie, sew, bind, knit, clamp and dye the fabric in other forms. Its purpose is to prevent the knotted part of the fabric from dyeing, so that the knotted part can keep its original color, while the knotted part can be dyed evenly. Therefore, uneven shadows and rich color halos and wrinkle layers are formed. The tighter and stronger the fabric is tied, the better the anti-dyeing effect will be. It can be dyed into ordinary tie-dyed fabrics with regular patterns; It can also be dyed into exquisite handicrafts with complex composition and diverse colors, which are naive, simple, novel and unique. Tie-dyeing is a quiet and peaceful world with blue and white as the main colors, that is, the contrast between blue and white is used to create an quaint meaning, and the combination of blue and white often gives people a sense of elegance like "blue and white porcelain", while peace and tolerance are more reflected in the tie-dyed sky.

Tie-dyeing usually takes cotton white cloth or cotton-linen blended white cloth as raw materials, and the main dyes come from the indigo solution of natural plants such as Sparganium, Radix Isatidis and Artemisia argyi, especially Radix Isatidis. Banlangen, used to dye cloth, is a perennial herb with small pink flowers. Later, when it was widely used, the people who dyed the cloth planted it on the mountain themselves. Okay, it can grow to half a person's height. They are harvested in March and April every year, first soaked in water, then poured into a large wooden dye vat, mixed with some lime or industrial alkali, and then they can be used to dye cloth. Tie-dyeing method is unique. This old book vividly describes the process of making tie-dye in ancient times: "Pick the thread and tie it, then dye it.". If you dye it, you will untie the knot. All the knots are primary colors, and the rest are dyed. Its color is gorgeous. " The main steps of tie-dyeing are drawing patterns, tying knots, soaking, dyeing cloth, cooking, drying in the sun, removing stitches, rinsing and grinding cloth. Among them, there are two main techniques: tie-up and dip dyeing, and the key techniques are tie-up and dyeing. Dyeing vat, dyeing rod, drying rack and stone mill are the main tools for tie dyeing. Tie flowers, formerly known as tie knots, means that after the cloth is selected, according to the requirements of the pattern, pinch, fold, turn and squeeze the cloth to form a certain shape, then sew or tie it one by one with a needle and thread, tie it tightly and then sew it tightly, so that the cloth becomes a series of knots.

In the past, the cloth used for tie-dyeing was entirely coarse white cotton homespun woven by Bai people themselves, but now there are few homespun, mainly woven by industrial machines, such as raw white cloth and packaging cloth, which has strong water absorption and soft texture. First of all, folk art designers draw various patterns according to folk traditions and market demand, plus their own creations. Printers use perforated wax paper to print the designed patterns on raw white cloth, and then women hold the cloth, sew it by hand, and then send it to tie-dye factories or various dyeing houses. Dip dyeing, that is, first soak the knotted cloth in clear water, then put it into the dyeing vat, or soak it for cold dyeing, or heat it for boiling and dyeing, then take it out to dry after a certain period of time, and then put it into the dyeing vat for dip dyeing. This repeated impregnation, each layer of color, that is, "shiny." Sewing parts naturally become beautiful patterns because dyes can't be impregnated, and because people sew with different stitches and dye-impregnated degrees, they are random, and the dyed finished products are rarely identical, which makes them more artistic.

After soaking to a certain degree, finally take it out and put it in clear water to remove excess dyes, air dry it, remove valerian knots, pick up pimples, iron them flat, and tie the stitched part with thread without dyeing, showing the color of hollow white cloth, that is, "flowers"; The rest is dark blue, that is, "ground", and then there are white flowers on the blue background. At this point, a beautiful tie-dyed cloth is finished. Between "flower" and "ground", there is often a certain transitional gradient effect, full of ice cracks, natural and lively, overcoming the rigidity of pictures and patterns, and making colors richer and more natural.

Tie-dyeing has a wide range of materials, often taking local mountains and rivers as creative materials. Its patterns are colorful clouds in Cangshan Mountain, waves in Erhai Lake, butterflies in tower shadows, myths and legends, ethnic customs, flowers, birds, fish and insects, etc., which are full of fun and varied. In the dyeing process, because the boundary of the pattern is infiltrated by indigo solution, the pattern produces natural halo, which is green and green, dignified and elegant, as thin as smoke, as light as cicada wings, as dreamlike, as if looming, and has unique charm. People have no interest in returning to nature.