Despite passed more than 2,000 years, the blue dyed cotton cloths, masterpieces of the craftspeople in the Han Dynasty (BC206 - AD220) still lie quietly in a tomb in Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region.
In the vast countryside of China, especially in the southwest mountain areas inhabited by many different ethnic groups, women frequently make dresses, cloth-wrappers, scarves and quilt covers made of blue dyed cloth. The simple beauty of the blue color matched with the white is similar to the natural beauty of the mountains and rivers in China. This type of cloth also represents the typical simple and unadorned beauty of the Chinese women in the rural areas. On her wedding day, a bride from the Miao ethnic national minority group wears 24 blue printed skirts, decorated with colorful threads. This special wedding dress can weight up to 40 kilograms.
There are several techniques of producing the blue printed cloths: one can use wax printing, double-layered dyeing, tied-printing, folded dyeing etc. Wax printing and tied-printing are the most popular techniques and of perpetual charm. According to records in the Annals of the Guizhou Province, "wax printing means to draw patterns on a piece of cloth with wax and dye it."
"After removing the wax, the patterns left back on the cloth are as vivid as paintings." Because wax breaks while the cloth is soaked in, the ink penetrates along the irregular crackles leaving behind thick and thin veins that wind in diverse directions on the white cloth. Local people warmly call these veins "the spirits of wax printing. "
The process of tied-printing consists in sewing different patterns and sections with separate oil thread on the cloth, fasten the threads as tight as possible and dye it. After removing the threads, the irregular patterns on the cloth look like the dots on sika deer furs. This is why this technique can also be called "Deer dots pattern" or technique.
Those blue printed traditional cloths have already been sold to western Asia and elsewhere in the world through the Silk Road. For example, such mentioned tied-printed cloths have been excavated in the Gobi desert dating from the Tang Dynasty (AD618-907). Even many glazed pottery figurines that have been unearthed so far, were decorated and patterned this way.
The color effect of these Chinese blue printed cloths resembles the traditional Chinese blue and white porcelain; and the composition of the pictures resembles the Chinese bronze wear. Blue printed cloth is one of the grassroots of Chinese traditional folk art and creativity. It brought a fresh and innovative wind to the way of dressing of Chinese women.
(us.tom.com)
