Treasures from John’s Collection: Fresh-Leaf Indigo Clamp Resist 生藍板締め
Itajime Michiyuki
I’m always on the look out for new weaves, dyes, and dye techniques to add to my
collection. I was happy to stumble upon this garment and recognize it as having
been dyed with fresh-leaf indigo. It is clamp-resist dyeing on a very nice
quality Japanese silk jacquard (rinzu).
The red circle indicates a distinctly white (resisted) line.
In the detail above we can see a distinctly white line. This resisted area can’t be accounted for with the method I suggested above. I wonder what would work?
Full front view of a michiyuki dyed with fresh-leaf tadeai indigo on silk
using clamp resist (itajime).
The block from the earlier attempt cut into two new blocks.
If I draw a border in from the edge of the block used in the earlier attempt to
mimic the dye pattern, and then using a scroll saw to separate this border from
the center section, I will wind up with two distinct blocks with which to clamp
my fabric, allowing me to work in stages.
The red line traces the general path of the white, resisted area.
Detail of the michiyuki above
(the fan shapes are part of the jacquard pattern in the weave).
It’s always fun to try to figure out exactly how something was accomplished. Below
is my guess as to what the block for clamp resist must have looked like based
on the pattern we see.
The yellow area indicates a piece of plywood used to help hold the blocks in
place and to distribute the pressure when the clamps are applied.
I’ll start by fitting the two blocks together and placing them as I did above. A
piece of plywood or plexiglass will help to distribute the pressure of the
clamps and hold the blocks in place. Once the exposed areas are dunked several
times in the indigo, I removed the clamps and while being careful not to
disturb the border block, removed the center block.
The thin, baby-blue lines indicate the fold lines of the design. The red image
indicates the shape of the block required to achieve this repetitious pattern.
If the silk is folded along the baby-blue lines indicated above, we wind up with
a layered rectangle as seen below. The fabric is sandwiched between two blocks
and clamped. Only the exposed areas of silk will receive a saturation of color – although because of the length of time required to soak the fiber in a
fresh-leaf vat, some dye will wick under the clamped areas giving the
beautifully variegated look see in the finished piece. What fun!
The center block removed, and the border block re-clamped
with a new layer of plywood.
The red border block needs to remain in position to ensure the white area of the
design continues to be resisted. I’ve prepared a new sheet of plywood, this time with holes to allow the dye to
flow into the moat created by the border block. OK, now I don’t think I’ll need the original solid red block…?
This is my streamlined solution: I start with two red border blocks, one on top,
one on bottom. I place a solid plywood form on top and bottom and clamp in
place (I would use several more than just two C-clamps in this case). Dye the
outer, exposed edges.
Folded and clamped yardage
Of course, I could be wrong…
Updated version: start with the border block, front and back, in position.
Next remove the clamps and swap out the solid plywood form for that with the
holes. Dunk several more times, and you’re all set!
I’ll let you know once I’ve had a chance to actually try out my theory – but if you get to it first let me know your results!
copyright John Marshall, 2015
The solid plywood form swapped out for the perforated form.
