Last Saturday I listed some wonderful indigo dyed cotton kimono fabrics. These cotton fabrics are pleasing to the eye and getting harder to find. In my search on the web, I found a site with a wonderful explanation of the indigo dyeing process and the various dyeing traditions. I’m reprinting it here for you.
Indigo Dye
The Japanese discovered that cotton was difficult fabric to dye except with indigo. Consequently, organic indigo dye was widely used throughout Japan as a coloring and designing agent for cotton textiles and became especially important in the Edo period (1603 ~ 1867). The indigo fabric dyeing process took a week or
more and required individual cotton pieces to be immersed & removed from the indigo dye vat more than 20 times so as to firmly fix the dark blue color into the material. Over time, use and washing, the dark blue appearance gradually faded, producing a visually striking variegated indigo coloring, a unique feature of indigo favored among collectors.
In addition Japanese peasants preferred indigo blue shades for their textiles because they felt the color mirrored the hue of the oceans surrounding the Japanese islands, culturally & economically important.
The Japanese made indigo dye through a natural organic process by fermenting the native indigo weed which transformed the plant material into liquid indigo dye. This pre-industrial method of making indigo dye required that the indigo plants remain in a vat where a culture soup of heat loving bacteria disintegrated the plant material while drawing out the dark indigo dye.
Interestingly, Japanese believe that indigo dyes contains properties that naturally repel insects and snakes and is the primary reason why Japanese farm women preferred indigo work clothing when working in the fields.
Cotton Textile Design Techniques
Shibori, a Japanese term for dyeing cloth with a unique design by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing the fabric. Shibori in the West is associated with what’s commonly called tie-dyeing. Shibori includes binding methods of dyeing, known as bound resist. For the Japanese, shibori is a highly refined and precise dyeing method.
Kasuri fabric is woven with fibers dyed indigo specifically to create patterns (splash) and images (e-gasuri) in the fabric. It is an ikat technique, meaning that during the dyeing process, threads are bundled together in a predetermined way so that when loomed, a geometric pattern or picture design is revealed in the weaving. The Japanese are credited with originating the picture design technique. When viewed, kasuri designs appear slightly fuzzy, an idiosyncratic feature of this weaving technique.
Katazome is a Japanese originated method of dyeing textiles with a resist rice paste applied through a paper stencil (katagami). A sticky paste mixture made from rice flour and rice bran is forced through a katagami paper stencil onto a piece of fabric; the stencil is then removed and the paste on the fabric is allowed to dry. Next, the fabric is coated by brushing on a sizing solution of soybean liquid. When the fabric is completely dry, the dyeing color is applied by brush. Next, the sticky paste is washed away and what remains is the stencil pattern in the fabric’s original color; the surrounding area has absorbed the dye color. Japan is credited with developing this dyeing technique to a level of unparalleled sophistication.
Katagami is the Japanese word for a handmade katazome paper stencil. The word is comprised of 2 kanji. The first kanji “kata” means “pattern or template” and the second “gami” represents paper. Therefore the Japanese word denotes paper template or in English, stencil. The kagagami was made of “washi”, handmade traditional Japanese paper. The paper was infused with kakishibu (dye) which enhanced its strength and stiffness. A skilled pattern craftsman hand cut a design into the sheet of katagami paper. Often with delicate patterns, a fine silk thread lattice would be overlaid on the katagami in order to hold the stencil and pattern fixed on the fabric as it was going through the dyeing process.
Japanese Sarasa had its origins in the 16th century and the term is derived from the Portuguese word for calico. During the Edo Period, Portuguese traders introduced cotton calicos from India into Japan where these beautiful, exotic fabrics quickly became enormously popular with wealthy samurai and merchant classes. These calicos, with vivid colors and striking abstract geometrics, were very distinctive to the Japanese eye as compared to traditional cotton and hemp indigo fabrics. Indian calicos were expensive and therefore small pieces were used to make valuable and colorful items like bags for tea ceremonies, tobacco cases and pouches. Already skillful at making distinctive textiles, the Japanese easily replicated the hitherto expensive Indian calicos into their own style and production techniques. While maintaining the eye-catching floral and scallop Indian fabric patterns, Japanese textile makers applied their indigenous katazome (rice paste resist dyeing and stencils) textile printing skills to making domestic sarasa, characterized by shades of kakishibu (madder, reds and browns) with distinctive Japanese floral designs and geometric shapes. As Japanese sarasa became widely produced, less expensive, and more common than the imported calico, it became a standard for wider use among the Japanese population in ordinary domestic applications like futon covers and wrapping cloths.
