Madder dye. Bright, colourfast, relatively easy to work with, and well priced for the local economy. It's the red of choice for many dyers.
It was January of 2018 when our team of dyeing instructors arrived in Bengal.
Indigo on cotton. Charllotte Kwon stretches a skein taut to check the colour.
In November of 2017 Kolkata turned blue. Or, at least, it did in the minds of those attending the Indigo Sutra Conference — a conference dedicated to the study and use of indigo. As part of this conference Maiwa’s Charllotte Kwon and Tim McLaughlin presented a lecture, guided a panel discussion and gave a full-day workshop on how to build and maintain a natural indigo vat using a number of natural techniques.
Monday, May 28, 2018
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Throughout history, if you wanted to learn about natural dyes, India was the place to go. For a number of reasons that were historical, political, and cultural; hand-textile traditions survived and flourished in India. If you knew where to look, you could find weaving, spinning and dyeing being done in rural and urban areas using ingenious techniques. For 30 years Maiwa has documented much of that knowledge and shared it: in documentary films, in workshops, in artisan masterclasses, and in working with artisans using traditional techniques.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
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This presentation was given by Charllotte Kwon, Tim McLaughlin, and Pankaj Shah at the Indigo Sutra event held in Kolkata, India on November 10, 2017.
Blue Ideals:
Overcoming Artisan Challenges to the use of Natural indigo
[Charllotte Kwon]
Introduction
Thanks to Amrita Mukerji for starting this journey. And thanks Jenny Balfour Paul for keeping us on the journey. And thanks deeply to Ruby Ghuznavi for inspiring so many of us so very long ago that the journey was worth taking.Thanks to all those who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make Indigo Sutra happen.
Welcome to everyone. We have three people on stage, here’s why.
My name is Charllotte Kwon - I have practical experience working with indigo vats. I also have considerable experience working with artisan groups helping to bring their work to the world market.
Tim McLaughlin has a background in chemistry and philosophy of science and has been working on understanding the complex reactions that take place inside the indigo vat. This information has proved very useful in identifying good organic substitutes for the ingredients used to build a vat. I have worked together with Tim as co-director of 4 documentary videos and co-author of a recent Thames & Hudson publication on Banjara embroidery.
Pankaj has a background in artisan development and he has a keen understanding of the many challenges facing artisans and artisan groups. He is a co-founder of Qasab in Kutch, he is formerly of Khamir (which he also co-founded). For over twenty years Pankaj, along with his wife Meena, has been a facilitator and artisan liaison for Maiwa Handprints working with traditional tribal communities in Kutch and Central and Southern India.
The three of us have worked together for a very long time. We have committed our lives to working with artisans and natural dye farmers and to understanding their challenges - and their desire to reach markets.
In addition to running my business Maiwa, I also teach the use of natural dyes. Through this teaching I build and maintain natural indigo vats for use by 16 students in a week-long workshop. I do this twice a year. In addition I oversee the maintenance of production vats for both cellulose and protein yarns.
In my opinion, building and maintaining the vats for students is a bit more tricky than for production dyers. Students have not perfected the technique of dyeing - usually they add too much oxygen while dyeing, and they occasionally collapse a vat through dying a cloth which has not been prepared properly. Reviving vats under these conditions has taught me many skills. I have learned a great deal about how far vats can be pushed and what can be done to keep them alive.
In this conference we would like to focus on natural indigo use by artisan dyers and small-scale growers in India.
Natural Indigo
Natural indigo has the potential to become the centre of a network of artisan and dye-grower relationships. Many regions of India (especially Bengal) have the perfect conditions to grow high-quality indigofera tinctoria which, when processed, will yield an exceptionally good proportion of indigotin (the active component of indigo dye).
This capacity represents a natural resource which was heavily exploited with disastrous results during colonial times. Today, the hope is to encourage a revival of natural indigo growing, extraction and use, to empower small-scale artisan communities.
Types of Indigo - Types of indigo vats
We want to draw a clear distinction between the indigo dyestuff as either natural or synthetic.
The vat used in the dyeing process is either a chemical vat or an organic vat. A chemical vat uses sodium hydrosulphite or thiourea dioxide as a reducing agent. An organic vat uses a natural reducing agent which we will explain in a moment.
Clearly there are three possibilities of interest:
1. Use synthetic indigo in a chemical vat
2. Use natural indigo in a chemical vat
3. Use natural indigo in an organic vat
There is no dispute that using natural indigo in an organic vat would be best. Let’s look at how an indigo vat works.
[Tim McLaughlin]
We are indebted to Michel Garcia for his clear explanation of indigo vats as having three distinct components. All indigo vats, regardless of how they are made need three things.
1. Indigo dye
2. A reducing agent
3. A base
Let’s look at these:
The Indigo dye contains indigotin - the active component of indigo. Indigotin does not dissolve in water. It behaves like a very fine sand. If we want to dye with it we need to dissolve the indigotin.
The reducing agent is what we add to the vat to dissolve the indigotin.
BUT - the reducing agent will only be effective in a basic environment - so we must also add a base to the vat.
All indigo vats contain these three parts: Indigo, a reducing agent, and a base.
Indigotin: indigotin is dissolved into a yellowy-green solution. Cloth or yarns are placed into that solution. The dissolved indigo known as leuco-indigo or indigo white permeates the fibres. When they are taken out, the oxygen in the air turns the indigo back into its insoluble (blue) form.
The raw ingredients of chemical vats are dangerous and require careful handling. The disposal of the remains of a chemical vat can be a pollution problem. An organic vat can be made by replacing the chemicals, with organic matter and selecting an appropriate base.
The recommended base is Calcium Hydroxide - known as calx or lime. When the vat is exhausted the calcium hydroxide can be converted to Calcium Carbonate - which is just chalk. This is accomplished by whipping air into the vat.
A large number of possibilities exist for organic reducing agents, after all, indigo dyeing has been done by artisans for thousands of years - for most of this time artisans had no access to chemical supply stores. Sugars, fruits, sweet vegetables, even spent dye matter such as madder or henna can be used.
These organic vats all have different personalities and require a certain sensitivity on the part of the artisan. In return for cultivating this sensitivity, the artisan works in a much more healthy environment and keeps the workplace free from hazardous materials.
Moving to an organic vat, however, represents a challenge to artisans in terms of knowledge and experience. So we suggest an incremental change. First - replacing synthetic indigo with natural indigo, that is, indigo which has been extracted from plants. Second, once this transition is established, replacing the chemical vat with a natural vat, one of the vats that uses sugars or organic matter to accomplish the reduction.
The spent organic vat is a compost containing plant matter, indigo pigment and chalk. And it can be easily be thrown away as a nitrogen and calcium-rich compost.
Let’s look at the switch from using synthetic indigo to using natural indigo extracted from the indigo plant.
[Charllotte Kwon]
The goal of reviving natural indigo and getting artisans to switch from synthetic to natural indigo presents a number of challenges to both growers and artisans.
I purchase natural indigo for Maiwa. Recently I was shocked when artisans told me that there was no natural indigo left - Maiwa has purchased it all! I asked myself “How can this be so?” Maiwa does not purchase THAT MUCH indigo. The number of artisans claiming to use natural indigo, and the number of large companies which claim to support traditional techniques, require a far greater volume of dyestuff than Maiwa could ever use.
So I asked myself “How is this possible?” It seemed that it could only be possible if artisans or merchants that say they are using natural indigo are not using natural indigo. Either they are being sold synthetic indigo and being told it is natural. Or they are receiving a blend of synthetic and natural.
We want to present these issues here, because this audience represents possibly the most knowledgeable and active indigo community in the world, This conference takes place at the centre of what was once the best land to grow indigo in the world. If these problems are solvable this is the place and the time to solve them.
[PANKAJ SHAH]
I would like to look at the issue of indigo use from the artisan’s perspective. What challenges face artisans in the use of natural indigo? We have broken this question down into five points:
Five Challenges facing artisans:
1. Technical Challenges: Dyeing skills needed to produce quality results with natural indigo.
2. Design Challenges: Creating products using natural indigo.
3. Sourcing Challenges: Availability of natural indigo on regular basis at consistent prices.
4. Costing Challenges: Setting prices for natural indigo products.
5. Marketing Challenges: Competition and market position for artisan products.
Let’s explore these.
1. Technical Challenges:
Dyeing skills needed to produce quality results with natural indigo.
[CHARLOTTE KWON]
Fortunately this challenge can be overcome. A skilled indigo dyer who already knows how to use synthetic indigo should have little difficulty in transitioning to natural indigo.
The use of natural indigo and organic vats needs to be demystified to help those who are not confident. There are many myths about indigo, which have kept artisans from using natural indigo dyeing or making an organic vat.
Natural Indigo behaves differently in the vat than synthetic indigo. Synthetic indigo is strong and immediate. For an artisan to get the same depth of shade from natural Indigo multiple dips are necessary. A deep colour in the block printing process is difficult because the physical resist, dabu mud, for example, weakens when dipped repeatedly. In ikat, bleed is more likely when a skein of tied yarns are repeatedly immersed.
Conversely a light clear shade can be more difficult with synthetic Indigo but may be obtained with ease when working with natural. In fact, a single dip that produces a deep shade raises suspicion that an artisan is not working with natural indigo.
Organic vats also behave differently than chemical vats. Chemical vats are quicker to make but often have a shorter life than organic vats.
The Organic vat often works best when a gentle heat is applied from time to time. There are some low-tech options for providing the heat needed to revive a vat – such as immersion heaters (many of which now have small solar panels). I will be teaching the technicque of building and maintaining vats in our “Vat Mechanic” workshop.
Timelines and work schedules may need to be adjusted for the use of natural vats.
A chemical vat can be prepared in a few hours. A vat based on fructose may take about 24 hours to reach its best. Vats based on sweet fruits and vegetables or henna may take two to three days to reach optimal dyeing strength. Fermentation vats may take a week or longer to establish themselves based on size of the vat and process used.
If work falls off or there is down-time in the studio, craftspeople need to know how put a vat to sleep and wake it up, that is, how to maintain vats during dormant times.
Natural vats need to be adjusted to meet different craft methods. Techniques such as Ajrakh, Dabu, Kalamkari, Bandhani, Shibori, Plain fabric dyeing, yarn dyeing etc. all bring their own requirements. The skilled dyer knows this and can adjust the vat to meet these requirements.
However - the synthetic indigo with the chemical vat has de-skilled artisans and it s a myth that it is very difficult to learn the process of working with natural indigo. As Tim mentioned - we highly recommend that artisans first learn to work with natural indigo (rather than Synthetic indigo) using a chemical or hydros vat. Get confident with that. Then work alongside these vats with a small vat made with natural indigo and various organic agents. Explore what is cheaply and easily available in your local area. Once you are confident, scale up to larger production vats for your process.
2. Design Challenges:
Creating products using natural indigo.
[TIM MCLAUGHLIN]
It is necessary to educate the public about how indigo behaves on a textile. After final washing indigo dyed textiles should not show rub off on a white cloth with a light rubbing. But there is long term rub-off and wear. The public does not necessarily connect the love of textiles they already know — like faded blue jeans — to the behavior of indigo dye on a shawl or jacket.
More specifically, it is necessary to design products that take advantage of the unique character of natural Indigo.
Actually, indigo is in a privileged position. Few dyes or fabrics could lay claim to the wealth of traditions that indigo can. It has been used wherever it grows. It is used throughout Asia, and through trade it arrived in Europe. Indigo clothing traditions span all classes. Indigo can be used on prestige textiles and on “blue collar” textiles. Historic uses are everywhere. It is simply a matter of tapping into these rich traditions in an authentic way. Innovation, modification and incorporation of traditional cloth into contemporary products is the next logical step.
3. Sourcing Challenges:
Availability of natural indigo on regular basis at consistent prices.
[CHARLLOTTE KWON]
Artisans may find it difficult to obtain a supply of natural indigo. Prices may not be stable throughout the year — Indigo prices are tied to the success of the crop and so depend on each season.
Additional challenges to small-scale artisans purchasing from extractors include:
Knowledge of purity of the natural indigo. Usually a skilled dyer would have to make a test vat and dye a familiar cloth. Ideally, this takes place before a large amount of indigo is purchased.
Deception is possible, however, this is an age-old problem of trade (the old bait and switch) and there are no qualities of natural indigo which make it either more or less problematic than any other raw material being used in a production process.
Natural Indigo suppliers are saying they do not have enough clients. Their main sales are powdered leaf indigo for hair dye - not extracted indigo for dyers.
4.Costing Challenges:
Setting prices for natural indigo products.
[Pankaj Shah]
Generally speaking, effective costing requires the experience of one full production run of product. Small-scale producers require training in flexible costing strategies. Strategies that can take into account real costs of training, infrastructure, and materials. More importantly the models used for costing need to be appropriate for small-scale artisan producers who often use family members in production. Costing models based on factory production are worse than no costing models, as such models will dictate how small scale craft “should” be organized.
Here are some figures for costs:
Using Natural indigo is more expensive than synthetic indigo, however, using natural indigo in an organic vat can be less expensive than synthetic indigo in a chemical vat if the vat is in constant production.
Artisans should be able to offer clients a schedule of options with pricing. If the artisans knows confidently how to build all types of vats then they can offer the client synthetic indigo with a chemical vat or natural indigo with a chemical vat or natural indigo with an organic vat. It is in the hands of the clients: what they wish to pay for, what they wish to say on their label, how they choose to market, and if they wish to be truthful.
5. Marketing Challenges:
Competition and market position for artisan products featuring natural indigo.
Charllotte has proposed that producers establish labeling whereby the process is announced to the buying public:
“Only natural indigo extracted from plants was used to dye this item.”
“This item was dyed with natural indigo using an organic vat technique.”
We would like to see the market reinforce the use of natural indigo. If an artisan is dyeing with natural indigo, the client should be able to visit the artisan and see the work going on. The client needs to pay the proper rate for natural indigo. The use of natural indigo can be marketed to the buying public as a value added step - in the same way the use of natural dyes and organic cotton are marketed as value-added steps.
These are the 5 challenges facing artisans when they consider using natural indigo.
To conclude we would like to correct some false assumptions about the use of natural indigo. These often come up when we talk to artisans and dyers and ask them why they are using synthetic indigo and not natural indigo.
Objection #1 The natural indigo vat is too difficult to make.
[CHARLLOTTE KWON]
Although natural vats can be temperamental, with experience there is no reason that the artisan dyer cannot have have the same success with natural vat as they have with the chemical vat. Many chemical vats can be built very quickly - but they also are exhausted quickly.
A natural indigo vat is like other artisan processes such as the manufacture of cheese or curd.
The manufacture of curd is a fermentation process which has the same sensitivity to temperature, pH and starting ingredients as a natural indigo vat.
In fact, the perfection of technique gained through working with a natural organic indigo vat can lead to artisans being able to manage very fine fabrics like pashmina and fine wools and silks that can be weakened and compromised in the synthetic/hydros vat.
Objection #2. Production dyers say- our large, deep indigo vats contain up to 3 kilos of indigo - It is too much of a risk to attempt an organic vat.
[TIM MCLAUGHLIN]
Established artisans who are concerned about managing a larger vat should begin with smaller vat and use these to become familiar with the process. We have had very satisfying experiences working alongside traditional dyers. Often there is an “ah-hah” moment, an epiphany, when they master the vat. At this stage they are reluctant to return to a chemical vat. It IS an investment to make a large deep vat. Yes. But it a rewarding investment.
Objection #3. Using items like dates for an indigo vat would take food out of the mouths of artisan families.
[PANKAJ SHAH]
This is an interesting argument which calls up the ghosts of famine and the troubled history of indigo in Bengal. However, it does not reflect the truth of working with organic vats. If dates are expensive or needed for food, a variety of other materials can be used. It is never the case that people need to go hungry in order to feed an indigo vat.
Moreover, fruits may be used for an indigo vat that are not suitable for eating. Items such as over-ripe bananas and over-ripe mangos.
In addition, unusual items such as madder or henna which has already been used for dyeing can be used. In some parts of India henna is inexpensive and readily available because of mehndi - and henna is a fabulous reducing agent.
Moreover, artisans always need to purchase raw materials for their craft. This is always the case. It is only because some of the raw materials for an organic vat are also foods that the confusion arises. But for an organic indigo vat there are many many choices and they do not have to compete or have impact on the local markets for foods.
[TIM MCLAUGHLIN]
The criteria for reducing agents is really rather simple. For fruits and vegetables they must have a lot of single sugars (monosaccharides). Either glucose or fructose. Chemically speaking, the aldahyde functional group on these molecules makes them reducing sugars. The sugar molecules are only useful when they are not in a ring form. For this reason sucrose will NOT work. Sucrose is one molecule of fructose and one molecule of glucose linked together in ring formation — so that this sugar will not work as a reducing agent.
Even jaggery will work - because even though it has a high percentage of sucrose, it also has a high percentage of fructose and glucose.
The other quality that fruits and vegetables must have is that they must NOT be acidic. Acidic fruits like apples, pineapples, or the pulps of oranges and other citrus fruits will not work. The acids in these fruits will collapse the vat. However, sometimes the citrus peels will work. Sugar beets and sweet onions will also work.
The real test of what will work is in making a working indigo vat.
Conclusion
{CHARLLOTTE KWON}
What Maiwa brings to the table with our participation in Indigo Sutra 2017 is a deep desire to get farmers in India growing natural dyes. As the market becomes more enthusiastic for natural colour, as we educate more people towards “slow clothes”, as consumers become prepared for the expense; the extra care required, and the beauty of cloth coloured with natural dyes, there is a real opportunity for artisans and farmers to work together to create new networks.
The networks are everything. Artisans need to be be able to find a vital, value-added market for environmentally friendly processes to preserve the cleanliness of their local water and land.
All we need to get started is some artisans who are prepared to start dyeing with natural indigo and some farmers who are prepared to grow that indigo and sell it to the artisans.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
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The Threads Lecture, traditionally a showcase of some aspect of the Maiwa Foundation, has been sold out since the end of August. This year the presentation gave some of the highlights of an epic 6500 km journey with eight staff.
The Maiwa crew met with pastoralists in Pushkar and encountered Gujar caravans in Madhya Pradesh.
One key aspect of the trip was the return by authors Charllotte Kwon and Tim McLaughlin to India to give copies of the hardcover book Textiles of the Banjara to the women who helped make it possible. Together with Laxmi and Jan Duclos, who run the Surya's Garden Banjara embroidery revival project, Maiwa sponsored a mela to recognize the embroiderers and distribute the book.
It was an emotional journey. Even if there was no language barrier we are not certain we could put into words what happened: the reactions to the women on seeing the book and the feelings of pride we had in being able to give back a small portion of Banjara culture to the women who help to keep it alive.
The talk concluded with a short film. We have posted it to the Maiwa Youtube channel. Here it is. (Note - if it does not play in your email just follow the link https://youtu.be/uLzWtOmyvog )
Monday, October 30, 2017
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Maiwa is on the road travelling through Madhya Pradesh right
now. One of the goals of this trip is to return to Banjara villages where we
photographed people, examined their textiles and interviewed them about Banjara
culture. As we do we are giving copies of the book back to the people who were
invaluable in our research.
One of the most satisfying aspects of this journey has been
seeing the women look through the book and ask questions about Banjara in other
areas. It is also interesting to see the women look through and spot textiles
and objects that they know.
Above is Chanubai receiving a copy of the book in Madhya Pradesh and below when we met her two years ago in 2014. Among the most interesting objects that were were able to track down was the Chunda. Chanubai modelled it for us in her village and explained how the threads on the bottom are braided into the hair so that the stick stands straight up. We found out on this trip that the woman who spent the 2 hours necessary to actually braid the chunda into her hair was closely related to the women of this village.
At our lecture this was one of the biggest questions: How will the Banjara react to see themselves and their culture in the book? The answer so far has been that the book has been received with a quiet amazement. There is always a group of people who gather when we enter a village and when the book is presented there is a great interaction as the pages are slowly turned and the images are reviewed. Sometimes a group in a village can be very high energy - but so far the book has been a kind of talisman, channeling a deep fascination with the larger question of who the Banjara are.
We also had a good encounter with an ernest young Banjara man. He wanted to know if the book could be made available in Hindi so that the more literate members of the village could read it. We have felt this need before and we would like to make it happen for the Banjara.
The book is available to order in the Maiwa Online store. It is also available at international online sellers such as amazon.com
The maiwa team on this trip are posting to instagram with the hashtag #maiwaontheroad Tim McLaughlin can be found on instagram at @tmcltmcl.
Above is Chanubai receiving a copy of the book in Madhya Pradesh and below when we met her two years ago in 2014. Among the most interesting objects that were were able to track down was the Chunda. Chanubai modelled it for us in her village and explained how the threads on the bottom are braided into the hair so that the stick stands straight up. We found out on this trip that the woman who spent the 2 hours necessary to actually braid the chunda into her hair was closely related to the women of this village.
At our lecture this was one of the biggest questions: How will the Banjara react to see themselves and their culture in the book? The answer so far has been that the book has been received with a quiet amazement. There is always a group of people who gather when we enter a village and when the book is presented there is a great interaction as the pages are slowly turned and the images are reviewed. Sometimes a group in a village can be very high energy - but so far the book has been a kind of talisman, channeling a deep fascination with the larger question of who the Banjara are.
The book is available to order in the Maiwa Online store. It is also available at international online sellers such as amazon.com
The maiwa team on this trip are posting to instagram with the hashtag #maiwaontheroad Tim McLaughlin can be found on instagram at @tmcltmcl.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
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Maiwa is on the road again. We are in India working on a rather epic journey that will take us to both coasts and down the lower two thirds of the subcontinent. On this trip one of our goals is to give copies of our book Textiles of the Banjara back to members of the Banjara community, especially those individuals who appear in the book or who made a large contribution to our research.
Our first stop on this project was an encampment located about an hour south of Jaipur. Bapu is a Banjara man who helped us quite a bit in this area.
When we explained to Bapu that we wanted to return to his community and present him with a book, he was puzzled: "Why? Banjara are labour." So we explained that most of the Banjara in the book also worked as labour. Still the Banjara culture is very very important.
It was a pleasant visit with Bapu's community. We arrived at mid-day. Everyone was calm and the book was handled with great care. We all felt a sense of deep happiness to be able to make this gesture to their community.
We will be posting more about our trip when time (and our internet connection) permits. If you follow instagram check our #maiwaontheroad.
The book Textiles of the Banjara is available throughout North America and Europe. We sell it in the Maiwa Online Store.
Thursday, November 03, 2016
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Maiwa has partnered with Joss Graham Gallery on two events as
part of a UK book launch for Textiles of the Banjara.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Seminar and special viewing Saturday 21st May 2 - 5pm
Charllotte Kwon and Tim McLaughlin of Maiwa Handprints. authors of the the book Textiles of the Banjara, will give a presentation of their work of over twelve years researching and reviving the traditional embroidery of the Banjara in India.
Discussion, handling session, gallery tour and book signing.
Places are limited so please call the gallery to book: cost £20
Private View and book signing Tuesday 24th May 6 - 9pm
Charllotte and Tim will be present to sign copies of their book.
Join us for the opening of the exhibition
Exhibition runs from 25th May - 30th July, 2016
JOSS GRAHAM GALLERY 10 Eccleston Street London SW1W 9LT
tel:+44 (0)20 7730 4370 www.jossgraham.com
Saturday, May 07, 2016
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| Jane Stafford in Sabahar's weaving shed - Adis Ababa, Ethiopia. |
Well known weaving instructor, Jane Stafford has just returned from a trip to visit Sabahar in Ethiopia.
Jane and Sabahar first met at the 2011 Maiwa masterclass in Bengal. So, like a textile matchmaker, Maiwa is quite proud that the two have kept in touch and maintained a relationship.
Jane has given a full description of her Ethiopian visit in her newsletter and now she is re-posting the story on her website.
Here are direct links:
Part 1
Weaving in Ethiopia Part 1
Part 2
Weaving in Ethiopia Part 2
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| Jane working with the weavers. |
Saturday, February 13, 2016
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| Banjara women among the sunflowers. |
Team Maiwa is in Southern India at the moment doing some research on the Banjara. It has been a week now, going from thanda to thanda. A thanda is a Banjara settlement. Historically these were temporary as the Banjara were nomadic, but increasingly thandas are becoming more permanent. We have been tremendously fortunate to be able to travel for a little while with Jan and Laxmi Duclos. Jan has lived most of his life in India and his wife, Laxmi Naik Duclos, is herself a Banjara woman and a master of the art of embroidery.
Tomorrow we leave Karnataka. Our days have been humid, dusty, and absolutely incredible.
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| Women bring out their embroidery to talk about patterns, mirrors, and cowries. |
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| Jan has led us to some beautiful houses also, with wooden beams and traditional structures. |
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
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The class was featured on the Penland Sketchbook twice: Dyed and gone to heaven and It's a Family Act! For those who may not know Penland, it has been a remarkable beacon for craft and artisans for over eighty years. Charllotte has long dreamed of teaching there. Then, one exciting day in 2011, the call came asking if she would consider being part of the summer 2012 session ...
Here are some of our photos.
Set up. You think natural dyes require special knowledge?
Try doing the paperwork to cross the boarder!
Ready for the students. We brought garments, shawls, scarves, samples, and our
photobooks to show what has been done by some of the best craftspeople in the world.
The start of the first day and everything is looking very white.
Scoured and mordanted, ready for some colour ...
... some colour!
Yarns, swatches, and samples.
Everything labeled and organized.
Charllotte Kwon and Joy Boutrup consider the mole as a unit of measure
for amounts of reactants and products in dye chemistry.
Sophena prepares some over-ripe bananas for the organic indigo vat.
Teaching the use of natural dyes for printing and mark-making.
Natural dyes on the railing.
The class takes advantage of some of Penland's natural beauty for a backdrop.
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
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Each year when we visit we sit on these steps. It has become a tradition after the meeting is over, to take a group photo. Each year we come a little further. Each year we accomplish a little more. Last year was a break-through year for the weavers. The year before that we were presented with a series of new designs that the leatherworkers had made. 2009, of course, was the year that members of the Artisan's Alliance of Jawaja (AAJ) almost came to Canada for our Symposium.
Each year we see a change in the village. A new coat of paint here, a wall repaired and cleaned up there, everything a little better, more welcoming, more content than it was before. As a group of artisans, both the leatherworkers and the weavers have great determination. It is a determination that is constant, exercised a little each day, and so when we look back over our relationship – five years ago, ten years ago, it fills us with a great sense of satisfaction and confidence. Here are some photos from our recent visit.
We've added most of the Jawaja leatherwork to our online store. Find it here.
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| Everything is discussed in a large group meeting in the "go down" (Indian name for warehouse). |
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| Jawaja proudly displays their recent work on the walls. |
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| The women are also present, not wanting to miss the excitement. |
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| When we finally prepare to leave there are blessings all around. |
Friday, February 17, 2012
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| Meena Raste (right) trades stitches with one of the Banjara embroiderers (left) Charllotte Kwon watches. |
Saturday, April 02, 2011
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| Always check the ropes. |
It was already dark when we landed in Hubli, the closest airport to Hampi and Surya's Garden. We spent some time tying our luggage to the roof (some of it dislodged en-route, but never hit the ground, hanging, as it was, by the ropes). And we are off for a quick four or five-hour drive.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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Maiwa and the Maiwa Foundation have been trying to work with traditional Banjara embroidery for a number of years now. We've had a long and successful relationship with KMVS in the Kutch desert of Gujarat, and we've hoped to implement that model to the exquisite and bold Banjara embroidery.
The Banjara (sometimes called Lambani or Lambada) are a semi-nomadic people who reside mostly in Southern and Middle India. They share a common ancestry with the Roma. who migrated through the mountains of Afghanistan and settled in the deserts of Rajasthan. Since the 12th century, the Banjaras have gradually traveled down to the south and large numbers worked for the Moghuls transporting provisions and trading goods. They traveled with herds of thousands of pack bullocks, buying and selling sugar, salt, and grain. Their habit of living in isolated groups away from others, which was a characteristic of their nomadic days, still persists.
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| Banjara community visited in 2004. |
Saturday, March 12, 2011
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Assam: Land of the Golden Silk - Part 6
(Our 2008 visit to Assam in search of three types of silk.)
We've been lucky in Assam. Chandan has found us a number of locations where the Eri moth is in different stages of its development. This has all been arranged by him, but as we pull into a compound or drive down a village street, we have no idea what we are going to find. Previously we encountered the eggs - just at the point of hatching. Now we've been shown the caterpillars in their final stages as they are about to spin. The worms pictured here are happily munching on a collection of castor leaves. Some of them have a faint blue tint. We're guessing that the colour difference is between male and female. For full details of the Eri lifecycle we recommend Michael Cook's well illustrated photo essay.
These worms were kept in the most simple conditions. A woven basket held an inverted collection of branches tied together at the stem. It made a substantial collection of food that would last a few days.
And finally we saw the adults. The one shown at the top of the post has been out of the cocoon about twenty-four hours. These moths (like all moths) generally don't live long in the adult stage, only a few days. As adults their sole drive is to emerge from the cocoon, mate and lay eggs.
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(Our 2008 visit to Assam in search of three types of silk.)
We've been lucky in Assam. Chandan has found us a number of locations where the Eri moth is in different stages of its development. This has all been arranged by him, but as we pull into a compound or drive down a village street, we have no idea what we are going to find. Previously we encountered the eggs - just at the point of hatching. Now we've been shown the caterpillars in their final stages as they are about to spin. The worms pictured here are happily munching on a collection of castor leaves. Some of them have a faint blue tint. We're guessing that the colour difference is between male and female. For full details of the Eri lifecycle we recommend Michael Cook's well illustrated photo essay.
These worms were kept in the most simple conditions. A woven basket held an inverted collection of branches tied together at the stem. It made a substantial collection of food that would last a few days.
And finally we saw the adults. The one shown at the top of the post has been out of the cocoon about twenty-four hours. These moths (like all moths) generally don't live long in the adult stage, only a few days. As adults their sole drive is to emerge from the cocoon, mate and lay eggs.
NEXT >>
Sunday, February 07, 2010
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Assam: Land of the Golden Silk - Part 5
(Our 2008 visit to Assam in search of three types of silk.)
At the close of our first day in Assam we are very very tired. The combination of jet lag, tropical weather, the excitement and newness of everything has worn us out. Returning to our simple guest house we are asked what we want to eat. Ever prudent we select what we think is the healthiest (in terms of traveller’s food safety) simplest, an most importantly, quickest meal. A boiled egg. “No problem. No Problem. Right away.” We would have lost consciousness instantly but we stayed away to receive our humble supper. Two hours later the boiled egg arrived. With two pieces of white bread. I suspect the thoughtful addition of western style white bread was the time snag and I imagine young boys being sent running through the village to get shop keepers to open their stalls until some is found.
Eggs are also where we start with the Eri moth. The eggs are so tiny they are hard to show clearly. But if you look closely you can see the small holes where they have exited. Eri hatchlings in Assam.
NEXT >>
(Our 2008 visit to Assam in search of three types of silk.)
At the close of our first day in Assam we are very very tired. The combination of jet lag, tropical weather, the excitement and newness of everything has worn us out. Returning to our simple guest house we are asked what we want to eat. Ever prudent we select what we think is the healthiest (in terms of traveller’s food safety) simplest, an most importantly, quickest meal. A boiled egg. “No problem. No Problem. Right away.” We would have lost consciousness instantly but we stayed away to receive our humble supper. Two hours later the boiled egg arrived. With two pieces of white bread. I suspect the thoughtful addition of western style white bread was the time snag and I imagine young boys being sent running through the village to get shop keepers to open their stalls until some is found.
Eggs are also where we start with the Eri moth. The eggs are so tiny they are hard to show clearly. But if you look closely you can see the small holes where they have exited. Eri hatchlings in Assam.
NEXT >>
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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