The main techniques of tie-dyeing process are tie-knot and dip-dyeing. Knotting is a combination of knotting, sewing, tying, sewing and clamping the fabric with tools such as yarn, thread and rope, and dyeing is to dye the fabric with pigments. At this time, the bow tie still keeps its original color, and at the same time, different samples and patterns are formed, with different shades and rich layers. Tie-dyeing is mainly blue and white, creating a fresh and elegant sense of peace, similar to blue and white.
(1) tying flowers
Tie flowers, formerly known as knot, means that after selecting cloth, according to the requirements of pattern, pinch, fold, turn and squeeze the cloth to make it into a certain shape, then sew or knot it one by one with needle and thread, tie it tightly and sew it tightly, so that the cloth becomes a series of knots. The tighter and stronger the fabric is tied, the better the anti-dyeing effect will be.
In the past, the cloth used for tie-dyeing was all coarse white cotton homespun woven by Bai people themselves, but now there are few homespun, which are mainly woven by industrial machines, such as raw white cloth and packaging cloth, which have strong water absorption and soft texture. First, folk art designers draw various patterns according to folk traditions and market demands, 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-dyeing factories or various dyeing houses.
(2) impregnation
Dip dyeing, that is, the knotted cloth is soaked in clear water first, and then put into the dyeing vat, or soaked for cold dyeing, or heated for boiling dyeing and hot dyeing, and then taken out to dry after a certain period of time, and then put into the dyeing vat for dip dyeing. This repeated impregnation, each layer of color, that is, "shiny." Because the dye can't be stained, the sewn part naturally becomes a beautiful pattern, and because people sew with different stitches and different dye stains, it has a certain randomness, and the dyed finished product is rarely exactly the same, which is more artistic.
After dipping it to a certain degree, finally take it out and put it in clear water to remove the excess dye, air dry it, remove the valerian knot, pick up the knot, iron it flat, and the part sewn by the thread is not dyed, and it is a hollow white cloth color, which is "flower"; The rest is dark blue, that is, "ground", and then the pattern of white flowers on a blue background. At this point, a beautiful tie-dyed cloth is finished. Ordinary tie-dyed fabrics with regular patterns can be dyed; It can also be dyed into exquisite handicrafts with complex composition and colorful colors, which are naive, simple, novel and unique.
Tie-dyeing is widely used, and local mountains and rivers are often used as creative materials. Its patterns include Cangshan colorful clouds, Erhai waves, tower shadow butterflies, myths and legends, ethnic customs, flowers, birds, fish and insects, which are full of interest and varied. In the process of dyeing, because the boundary of the pattern is infiltrated by indigo solution, the pattern produces a natural halo, which is green and elegant, as thin as smoke, as light as cicada wings, as dreamy as a dream, as if looming, and has a unique charm. Interest in returning to nature is dull.
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 Folium Artemisiae Argyi, especially Radix Isatidis. Banlangen, formerly used for dyeing cloth, is a perennial herb with small pink flowers. Later, it was widely used, and 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 used to dye cloth.