TIE-DYED WORK
This beautiful and fascinating art of textile decoration, applied to
draperies and articles of dress, has been practiced in many countries
for centuries. Old pieces have been found in South America, in Peru
and Bolivia. In the Philippines and in provinces of India the work may
still be seen, the art having been handed down from generations
unknown.
[Illustration: {TIE-DYED FABRIC} {p. 109}]
The essential process consists in dyeing the cloth in a dye-bath after
having wound parts of it more or less tightly with string or cord,
which serves as a resist to prevent the color from reaching those
parts of the fabric. The result is a white or, if the cloth has been
previously dyed, a light colored pattern on a darker background.
The method is capable of more elaborate work. There may be several
dyeings, beginning with lighter colors and passing to those of darker
values, and between the dyeings additional tying or untying or both.
[Illustration: PORTION OF A CHUNDRI SHOWING TIE-DYED WORK DONE IN
INDIA {p. 110}]
For example, a cloth is dyed light gray, then a pattern tied into
it, after which it is put through a light blue dye-bath. This gives a
light gray design upon a grayed blue background. But suppose now that
a part only of the tying is removed, some additional tying done in the
grayed blue field, and a third dye-bath used, this time a light red.
The background becomes a grayed purple and in the design are gray,
grayed blue and grayed red.
There may be a great variety of designs, depending upon the manner of
tying the individual unit and the spacing of these units with relation
to each other.
The Oriental work is characterized by very small individual ties and
the arrangement of many of these into some geometrical or pictorial
pattern. The grouping of these little ties accurately and uniformly
into lines and design clusters challenges wonder and admiration. But
even with the dexterity acquired by these people the process is slow
and laborious.
The illustration (page 110) shows a piece of tie-dyed work from India.
The material is cotton. Careful examination shows it to have been done
in the following manner: The cloth, which is very thin, was folded to
form four thicknesses. Then at each point where a tie was desired the
four thicknesses were pressed or drawn up and wound very tightly with
string, the very tip of the fabric being left exposed to take the dye
like the background. After dyeing and removing the ties the cloth was
unfolded, showing the four repeats. The upper left quadrant was
uppermost in the tying, and shows the dark centers very distinctly.
Then came in order the upper right showing small dark centers, the
lower right showing few dark centers, and the lower left showing none
at all.
[Illustration: A TIE-DYED PATTERN BY HIGH SCHOOL PUPIL {p. 112}]
[Illustration: PORTION OF A TIE-DYED SILK SCARF {p. 113}]
As with other crafts that have come to us from the East, we have not
chosen to imitate their marvelous perfections of detail. It has rather
been to our liking to work out space and color adjustments in a manner
more in keeping with our national temperament. And it is not without
its measure of success in artistic and pleasing results.
The illustration on page 112 is the work of a school boy. The material
was cotton, dyed old rose before the tying was done. After the tying
it was dyed deep blue. The space relations are very good.
The work upon such a piece should proceed in the following manner.
First the cloth should be prepared for dyeing in the manner indicated
in the chapter on dyeing. The centers of the ties should next be
located. Sometimes the cloth is merely gathered at each center and
tied, but with larger patterns it is often folded in some definite
way. The border in this piece was made by gathering across the entire
piece and tying.
If the tying is very tight the outlines will be sharp. With a little
looseness in the ties the color will creep in, the results of which
are often very beautiful. A tie that is too loose, however, is in
danger either of coming off in the dye-bath, or it may allow the color
to penetrate to the extent of destroying the design.
Too prolonged treatment in the dye-bath, or dyeing at too high a
temperature, may cause too much penetration of color into the tied
spaces.
[Illustration: A TIE-DYED BORDER {p. 115}]
[Illustration: PORTION OF A TIE-DYED SCARF {p. 115}]
On page 113 is shown a portion of a silk scarf. In this case the white
cloth was gathered at the respective centers, without any definite
plan of folding, and tied rather tightly with a few winds of string
about an inch or more from the center. The piece was then dyed a soft
gray yellow. Then more winding was done so as to leave only the tips
exposed. The next dye-bath was a soft blue somewhat stronger than the
yellow. The color qualities are beautiful. The border shows the
penetration of the blue color in a very happy manner.
The border design on page 115 shows the result of a definite manner of
folding the cloth before tying.
The portion of a scarf illustrated on page 115 shows one large pattern
beginning at the center of the scarf. The scarf was gathered or folded
from the center and tied at intervals. The color is delicate old rose,
especially beautiful for evening wear.
Sometimes small objects, such as marbles or glass beads, are placed at
the center of the tied spots and the cloth tied around them.
A very interesting development of tie-dyed work and one which greatly
increases the variety of designs is what we may term stick tying,
_i.e._, tying over sticks.
The sticks for this purpose are those commonly used by school children
in stick printing. These are sold by all the leading school art supply
houses. These sticks are treated so they will not absorb color, which
makes them especially suitable for tie-dyed work. They are of
different shapes, squares, circles, triangles, oblongs, etc. On these
shapes the cloth may be folded in different ways, giving an element of
geometrical symmetry, which, however, is always softened in the
dye-bath as the color makes its little incursions into the tied spots.
[Illustration: EXAMPLES OF STICK TYING {p. 117}]
[Illustration: STICK TIED PATTERNS {p. 117}]
Stick tying is not only a good craft problem but also splendid for
the school room for both boys and girls.
It is best to lay out the design on the cloth by stick printing with a
very light tint of the color to be used in the first dyeing, and
using, of course, the end of the stick over which the cloth is to be
tied. This insures a proper direction of the axes of the tied spots.
On page 117 are shown a number of tyings over the different sticks,
and also some dyed spots resulting from tying in several ways. Any
school boy can devise other stick ties, and he will be delighted with
some of the effects produced by his inventions.
We also show (page 119) a silk scarf tied over sticks, with a border
at each end, ready for the dye-bath. On page 120 is this same scarf
after dyeing. The work was carried out in the following manner: The
stick used was a flat oblong one-eighth inch thick, five-eighths inch
wide and one inch long. The cloth was stick printed with light yellow
to locate the centers for the ties. The end of the stick was placed at
the center, the cloth folded equally on the two sides, and the tying
done as shown on the first stick (page 117).
The entire scarf was dipped in warm water before dyeing. This
conformed to our directions for dyeing and also caused the ties to
tighten. The piece was first dyed yellow, then without any change in
the tying it was dyed green.
[Illustration: A PIECE OF STICK TYING READY FOR THE DYE-BATH
{p. 119}]
[Illustration: UNITS OF THE PATTERN FROM THE ABOVE TYING {p. 119}]
[Illustration: A SILK DRAPERY DECORATED BY STICK TYING {p. 120}]
[Illustration: A STICK-TIED LINING FOR JACKET {p. 121}]
After a thorough rinsing the two yellow green bands around the stick
were protected by additional tying and the upper and lower ties
removed, exposing two white bands. Then followed a red dyeing,
another rinsing, the removal of all ties, and a final dyeing in a very
dilute golden yellow.
The result is a ground color of rich, beautiful brown. In the tied
spots are bands of gold, of orange-red, of yellow-green and of brown,
also a brown center. Along the edges of these bands the colors have
crept in, one here and another there, to produce a beautiful
iridescence. The same colors are repeated in the borders.
The lining of the jacket, page 121, is a beautiful piece of stick
tying on pongee silk. The colors here are yellow, green and grayed
purple, as well as the original color of the pongee. These were three
dye-baths, yellow, blue and red.
[Illustration: {TIE-DYED FABRIC} {p. 122}]