CHAPTER XIV

TIED AND DYED WORK

Hitherto, in this book, the student has been instructed in the general art of dyeing and coloring the various fabrics, both in the yarn and in piece, without any attention to the subject of coloring them in patterns or designs. The remaining chapters will be devoted to various methods, suitable for craftsmen, by which the dyestuffs can be applied so as to give more or less definite patterns to the objects to be colored.

This art, in its general principles, was worked out in various parts of the world at very early periods in their civilization. In a great many cases colored designs in textiles were formed, in the process of weaving, by incorporating yarns of different colors in certain portions of the fabric.

But along with this, at a very early stage in the textile industry, there was developed the art of making patterns, regular or irregular, by the action of dyestuffs upon previously woven goods. In general there are three methods for doing this which, it is claimed, were known to the ancient Egyptians just as well as they are to the modern calico printer. These three methods are known as Direct Coloring, Discharge, and Resist dyeing.

[Illustration: FIG. 2—TIED AND DYED HEADDRESS FROM AN INCA TOMB IN PERU]

=Direct Coloring.=—This means the application of the dyestuff or coloring matter to different special portions of the textile or fabric, so as to give a colored design, upon a lighter background. The dye may be applied by dipping special portions of the fabric into it, in which case the pattern is apt to be a very loose and irregular one. Or, if the material will take the dye readily enough, as for instance in the staining of leather, it may be applied with a brush, or a small pad.

More formal and intricate designs can be made by applying the color in the form of a paste, through the help of stencils, as worked out by the Japanese so beautifully, or by means of wooden or metallic blocks, as in the block printing in the East, which in Europe and America has developed into the art of calico printing, by rolls run by machinery.

=Discharge.=—This process is the exact reverse of the preceding one, in that the cloth or other material is dyed first, and later the color is either entirely removed or, it may be, very decidedly altered in shade, in certain special parts, by the application of some chemical.

The earliest examples of this are where cloths stained with Iron buff, have had patterns made in them by washing out certain portions with acid. Just as some of the earliest forms of “direct coloring” are shown in the dark patterns of leaves, formed by the same Iron buff dye, upon cloth against which moist fresh leaves have been crushed.

The discharge process is not as commonly used by craftsmen as the other two methods, because it has not always been easy to find or to use a chemical that will properly destroy or change any particular color, without at the same time, if fast dyes are used, destroying or at least injuring the fabric. The professional dyer, working in conjunction with the chemist, carefully weighing the reagents, and using steam chests and drying chambers with definite and carefully regulated temperatures, can fully discharge even the fastest dyes without danger. But this is difficult, if not impossible for the craftsman, and while the process will be discussed and described under the subject of stencilling, it will be found, comparatively, of but little practical importance.

=Resist.=—The third and last method for getting colored patterns is one which has been used in different ways, by the most widely scattered nations, and which, to this day, furnishes one of the most interesting and important processes at the disposal of the craftsman, as opposed to the professional dyer.

It consists of applying to certain portions of the fabric, before dyeing, some agent which, acting either chemically or mechanically, will “resist” the action of the dyestuff at the places where it is applied. These parts accordingly will remain in their original color, or at any rate will be but slightly colored, while other portions, not so protected, will be dyed full shades. This, in many respects, is the most advantageous way of obtaining patterns for the craftsman, because no action has taken place tending to injure the strength or durability of either material or dyestuff, and as the color is applied in a regular dye-bath there is generally an opportunity to apply the dyestuffs in the most approved manner.

_Variations in Resist Work._—The resist method has been discovered in many parts of the world, and has been carried out in many ways. In Java, for instance, a beautiful art was developed known as Batik, to be described later, in more detail. These people used, as a resisting medium, molten beeswax, which could be poured or painted on to the cloth wherever desired, and, according to whether it was applied hot or only just warm enough to be liquid, would protect the material covered, either wholly or partially, against the action of dyestuffs in a cold bath.

Less elaborate, but still very interesting processes are reported from many other quarters. As will be described in the next chapter the Japanese have long used a resist paste, to make white patterns against dark backgrounds with their stencils. In some of the Pacific Islands natives have learnt to make patterns by pressing pieces of cloth tightly between shells, as for instance the two halves of a clam shell, and then dyeing or staining around them. Other tribes learnt the trick of tying or sewing flat thin pieces of wood together, tightly compressing the cloth between them and thus preventing the dyestuff from reaching those parts of the goods when dyed later.

But the most common process, and one which is not only the simplest and easiest to carry out, but also offers to the skilful dyer an almost unlimited range of interesting and effective results, in color and design, is the so-called “Tied and Dyed Work.”

TIED AND DYED WORK

In this process, Tied and Dyed Work, the pattern is made by tying string or cord, more or less tightly, around certain selected portions of the material. When the goods, thus treated, are subsequently dyed, these tied portions will be kept from the action of the dyestuff, and after the operation is finished and the strings cut or untied, they will be lighter in color than the adjacent parts of the fabric.

This process has been known and widely used in many different parts of the world. Some interesting examples of it are found among the textiles from the so-called Inca graves, in Peru and Bolivia, dating from before the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century (see Fig. 2). Some extremely interesting specimens of tied work can be seen in the Philippine collection in the New York Museum of Natural History, brought from the Bagobo tribe in Mindanao (see Fig. 5). While perhaps the most extraordinary development of this process can be found in the so-called chundries or chunaries, imported from Central Hindustan, and sold by traders in Eastern goods and textiles at very moderate prices.

[Illustration: FIG. 3—SHIKAR CHUNDRI, FROM RAJPUTANA, WITH KNOTS STILL UNTIED]

=Chundries.=—These are chiefly manufactured in the native State of Kotah, in Rajputana, and have been produced there from time immemorial, for use as clothing and hangings. Those that are imported to this country (see Figs. 3 and 4) are generally made of extremely thin, flimsy muslin, most elaborately decorated in three or four colors, with patterns made up of an infinite number of small round or rectangular rings of white or light colors, against a darker background. They can be obtained in the same condition that they left the dyer’s hands, folded tightly together, colored red or brown or black from the final dye-bath, and covered over with hundreds of little hard knots or lumps. These, on examination, prove to be the tied places, each tied by hand, by winding round and round the base of the projecting loop of cloth, a very fine thread, closely laid and knotted extremely firm and tight.

When unwound, which must be done with much care on account of the thin, fragile nature of the cloth, the knotted portions often show most beautiful and interesting designs—done in different colors, put on before tying, and protected from the final bath by the close tight layer of thread. Among the most interesting of them are the so-called “Shikar” chundries, where the design, repeated over and over again, illustrates some hunting scene, as, for instance, a tiger hunt, with the animal springing at a man armed with a sword, and a horse or elephant with howdah. When fully opened one of these chundries makes a strip of cloth some five or six yards long, and in Rajputana is used as the full-dress costume of a young lady of fashion, being folded round and round the body and over the head in most graceful and charming lines.

On studying one of these chundries one is struck by the immense amount of labor expended in the tying process. The knots which form the pattern make, frequently, as many as twenty-five or thirty to the running inch, and each one is tied so tightly around the cloth, folded so as to form four thicknesses, and drawn or pressed out into loops, that it completely protects the part it covers from the dyestuff, only the tip of the loop remaining exposed. Hence, when it is untied, there results a small circular or rectangular ring not over three-quarters of an inch in diameter. To obtain a surface around which the string can be thus tightly tied, the folded cloth is evidently pressed out from the back by a thin pin or spike (the effect can be produced by tying a thin piece of cloth tightly around a wooden toothpick) around which the thread can be tightly drawn and knotted, and which usually is left in during the dyeing process and taken out afterwards.

The patterns are so elaborate, and yet are repeated over and over again, on the same chundries, with such regularity, that it is probable that some simple apparatus is used to press out the cloth in exactly the proper places. This could be done by using a little frame with holes in it, into which pins of wood or ivory could be set, like the markers in a cribbage board, for instance, forming definite figures on which piece after piece of cloth could be placed and pressed out into shape.

[Illustration: FIG. 4—SAME CHUNDRI AS IN FIG. 3, UNTIED AND SHAKEN OUT]

The most interesting thing, after all, about these extraordinarily elaborate pieces of handicraft work is the fact that this vast amount of time and labor is expended upon such poor materials. The muslin of which they are made is so thin and poor that considerable pains must be taken in opening them, to prevent their tearing from the strain of pulling off the knots of fine thread. Then, too, the colors as a rule not only are fugitive to sunlight, but are easily affected by washing. Two minutes scrubbing in hot soapsuds will almost completely efface the pattern and color from some of the most elaborate and beautiful of them all. And this is not, as is claimed frequently by modern writers upon Eastern handicrafts, due to the introduction of cheap and fugitive “aniline” dyestuffs. The dyes, used for generations by the Rajput craftsmen, for their most elaborate chundries, were principally tumeric, safflower, and other inferior vegetable colors, applied so loosely as to be merely stains rather than dyes—and it would be hard to get modern dyestuffs which, applied with any care, would be as fugitive as those commonly used for the very best examples of these beautiful textiles.

=Tied Work in the Philippines.=—Of different quality is the work of the Bagobo tribe in Mindanao, interesting specimens of which are to be seen in the Philippine collection of the New York Museum of Natural History. As shown in Fig. 5, a headdress belonging to Miss Laura Benedict, the work is not unlike that done by the ancient Peruvians, and the patterns, although often exceedingly complex, are invariably geometrical, and do not approach in variety or in interest those from India. The coloring, too, is far simpler—practically all the examples showing light patterns on a dull purplish background. But the dyeing is most carefully and thoroughly made—taking about thirty days to complete, dyeing each night and washing thoroughly each morning during all that time, until the final product is exceedingly permanent to both light and washing.

Miss Benedict, who was the first white person to enter the Bagobo country and study and report on their handicrafts, states that the patterns are made in a curious manner. The pattern is first outlined upon the cloth by a series of basting stitches, the intersection of two stitches being the mark for the centre of one of the tied places. Then the operator, seated, puts over her big toe a ring attached to a line some three feet long, on the end of which is a simple hook made from a bent and sharpened piece of copper or brass wire. Holding the cloth in one hand, she then fastens the hook into one of the marked places, pulls the part out with her foot, and ties up the loop thus formed, rapidly and tightly, with waxed thread. This she winds round and round the loop, beginning with the bottom first, and knots it tight, using the free hand, assisted, except with very expert workers, with the thumb and forefinger of the other.

Specimens of textiles thus tied, and not yet dyed or opened, and also of the toe-ring, line, and hook used in the process, can be seen at the Museum, along with a great variety of beautiful specimens of the finished work.

[Illustration: FIG. 5—BAGOBO HEADDRESS FROM THE ISLAND OF MINDANAO]

It is rare that, in our present surroundings, any craftsman can spare the time and patience to copy the elaborate patterns made in these ways by the Eastern dyers. But equally beautiful and interesting results can be produced with very little expenditure of time and labor, by the skilful dyer, who knows something of the fundamental principles of design and can use his dyes so as to get soft and beautiful as well as permanent color effects. It is impossible, in a work like this, to do more than suggest some of the many ways in which this process can be used. The rest depends entirely upon practice—and more can be learned about its possibilities in a couple of hours’ work with muslin or cheesecloth, and a ball of twine or tape, in connection with a dye-pot of a good Sulphur dye, than by weeks of listening or reading about it.

VARIETIES OF TIED WORK

=Tied on Itself.=—Interesting effects may often be produced on long pieces of cloth, scarfs, and the like, by folding them over and tying them into knots at one or two selected places, before dyeing. Fig. 6 shows an example of this, (a) Tied and ready for dyeing; (b) Dyed and opened out. This when worked out in different colors, dyeing first, with some light color, then tying and dyeing with another color, or else coloring the tied and dyed piece with a second light bath of another color, gives very pleasant results as applied to draperies—as, for instance, simple costumes for pageants and out-of-doors plays. It is, however, almost, if not quite, impossible to obtain definite designs in this way, and it is hardly possible to duplicate results. But occasionally the process is useful.

=Tied with String or Tape.=—Far more important is the process generally meant by the term “tied and dyed work,” where the pattern is made by tying either thread, string, cord, or even tape, more or less tightly around special portions of the cloth. These portions are usually drawn out, or pressed out, or folded, so as to form a sort of loop around which the string can be tied. But occasionally the whole cloth, laid flat and with but little folding, is tied tightly across, so that the reserved part forms, when untied, a more or less straight band.

_Tied in Bands._—It is often desirable to separate one part of a design from another by means of a broad line or band of white or light color. This can be readily done by tying a piece of strong twine or tape, tightly, right across the goods at the desired place before dyeing it. Quite elaborate and interesting effects can be produced in this way by first folding the cloth lengthways, and then tying a width of several inches with a broad piece of tape. If it is not tied too tight some of the color will work up and down the folds, under the tape, and give, when finished, curious wavy effects. (See Fig. 7.)

_Tied in Small Loops._—This banding, though interesting and useful, differs from the sharp little round or diamond-shaped rings forming the patterns in the Rajput or Bagobo textiles. These are produced by pressing or pulling out the cloth into loops or bunches which are then tied tightly round and round with string or thread, the middle of the loop being usually left exposed to the dyestuff, so as to form a colored centre.

[Illustration: (_a_)—_Tied and Ready for Dyeing_

(_b_)—_Dyed, Untied and Shaken Out_

FIG. 6—SAMPLE OF TIED AND DYED WORK, “TIED ON ITSELF”]

Very small loops can be made, as mentioned above, by pressing out the cloth with a wooden pin (or toothpick) and tying tightly around this, leaving in the pin until after the dyeing is completed.

Skilful workers can tie quite small loops by placing a bead, or dried pea, or piece of gravel in the cloth and tying the cloth tightly around this. It is best, always, to have something of the sort, pin or bead, to act as a centre, or else the knot, after tying, is very apt to slip off, and spoil the pattern.

The design for this sort of work should be carefully planned beforehand, and marked out on the cloth with pencil or chalk. For, with small loops like this, the interest is more in the pattern formed by them than in the changes and contrasts in color between the different tied parts and the rest of the cloth.

A very interesting specimen of work done in this way by Miss Mary Grey is shown in Fig. 7.

_Tied in Large Knots and Loops._—It is hard for a Western craftsman to obtain sharp, well-defined knots by this method, of a diameter of less than half an inch or so. Usually, indeed, it is too much of a bother and nuisance to try any knots covering less than an inch and a half. From this size, up to fifteen and twenty inches in diameter, will be found the vast majority of all American work. The reason is very simple. The trouble of tying a knot covering five inches is very little more than that for a half-inch knot, indeed far less for most people, while the large knot produces an immediate effect not equalled by a dozen of the latter. Furthermore, with large knots, big bold designs can be produced, which, with pleasant and skilfully selected colors, give results far more striking and effective than can be shown by the small knots, no matter how carefully carried out. On the other hand, intricate and carefully planned designs can be worked out with small knots, which cannot be attempted with the large ones.

For designs with large knots, beside the cloth, which should be soft and free from dressing, and a ball of soft thick twine or better, of cheap cotton binding tape, half to three-quarters of an inch wide, it is well to have a supply of large glass beads, of marbles of different sizes, and, if these are not easy to get, of pebbles, beans, hazelnuts, and the like. These are not always to be used, but in most cases it makes a more interesting contrast to have the centre of the tied spot come out dark, with the lighter parts, more or less shaded, around it. That means that the centre must be exposed to the dyestuff by being stretched out over a marble or pebble, while the parts around it are tied up. And the tying, too, is greatly facilitated by having a hard centre to work against.

By tying around one marble first, and then putting in another and tying round that, a series of concentric rings will be formed, the black rings showing where the cloth, covering the marble, has been exposed, and the light-colored part showing where it has been covered by the tape or string.

[Illustration:

FIG. 7—SAMPLE OF TIED AND DYED WORK, “TIED IN BANDS,” WITH INCIDENTAL KNOTS. BY MISS MARY GREY]

As before, the design, if at all elaborate, should be marked out beforehand on the open cloth, and the parts tied in accordingly. Much experience is required to know just how tight to tie the tape so as to get a desired effect with each particular kind of cloth, and each class of dyestuffs. In general, with small knots the string should be tied very tight, or otherwise no effect is produced at all. The larger the tied parts, however, the more pains should be taken to have the cloth folded before tying, so that some of the color may work down through the folds past the tape, and thus produce shaded effects, which may be of great beauty (see Plate IV, Fig. a). Of course, in this, much depends on the cloth; a thick heavy calico tying with difficulty, but not letting the dyestuff soak through; while soft open materials like scrim or cheesecloth, for instance, must be tied much tighter, or the color will work through so much as to spoil the design.

The student is advised to practise, from the start, tying his tape with a slip loop, or at any rate a bow knot, and not with a fast square knot each time, so as to save trouble and bother when untying later. A skilful craftsman will tie quite a large piece of cloth, in an interesting and fairly complicated design, in a few minutes. But after dyeing, while the cloth is still wet, and the tape or string has shrunk, and the knots have tightened, it is often more trouble to untie, or cut it open, than it was to make it, and there is always the danger of cutting holes in it. A little pains in laying down one end of the tape, before starting to tie, so that, when the whole loop is tied up, the other end will come out alongside of the first so that it can be joined to it by a bow knot, will save any amount of time and vexation.

=Sewed and Dyed Work.=—Besides protecting the cloth from the action of the dyestuff by tying string or tape around it, the same effect can be produced by sewing up certain parts of it, before dyeing, and then, after the rest has been colored, and the loose dye-liquor washed off, the sewed-up parts can be opened and pressed into shape.

This modification of the process, so far as I can learn, is not practised by the Rajputs with their chundries, but in the Benedict collection can be seen some most extraordinary and elaborate pieces of dyed work made just in this way. The Japanese, also, have been in the habit of using this method, and sometimes they produce curious zigzag lines by taking coarse stitches across the cloth, alternately, first to one side and then to the other side of the centre line, and then drawing the thread tight. The needle is often used for borders—for straight lines can easily be made in soft materials (and such only should be used for tied work) by hemming the cloth with strong thread, and then drawing it up close and tight before putting it in the dye-bath. The development of this branch of the process, however, belongs properly to the fair sex.

[Illustration: FIG. 8—FOLDING THE CLOTH

FIG. 9—STARTING TO TIE

FIG. 10—CENTRE PORTION TIED

TIED AND DYED WORK]

=Dyeing Process.=—Now for the dyeing process. Of course, for practise, the craftsman will use cotton as his raw material, in the form of muslin, cheesecloth, scrim, or best of all, light grades of mercerized cotton, and hence will use the various cotton dyestuffs. The Salt colors are hardly advisable, because though fast to light they are not all fast to washing unless well boiled on, and that means that, unless tied extremely fast and tight, the color would be bound to penetrate, and wipe out the design. The Sulphur colors and the Vat colors are the best for the purpose—for they can be dyed cold or lukewarm, without injuring the fastness of the dye, and give colors fast both to light and to washing. In general, it is easier to get even shades with the Sulphur colors, and their shades are soft and pleasing, but while fast, they are not as fast as the Vat dyes, and it is impossible to get a decent scarlet with them. The skilful dyer will, of course, select his class to suit the shade he is trying to get and also to meet the requirements about fastness. But, in general, he will use the Salt colors for covering and shading the patterns produced with either the Sulphur or the Vat dyes. When using the oxidation dyes, like the Sulphur or Vat colors, plenty of time must be given for the dyestuffs to oxidize and set before they are untied. But, on the other hand, directly they are once untied it is important to wash off the loose dye-liquor from the cloth, and especially from the tied-in portions, as soon as possible after untying, otherwise some dye-liquors that may have soaked in without having had a chance to oxidize, will, when exposed to air, suddenly fix themselves and obscure or ruin the pattern.

After attaining some skill in this process the craftsman is urged to try it on more important materials like silk. Most beautiful effects can be, and are being produced by this means, on soft delicate scarfs made of Chinese or Indian silks. The Acid colors are, of course, used for this, and as they take so readily on silk, the possibilities of shading and over-shading different portions of the design, or of adding a touch of color here and there where it seems desirable, offer infinite possibilities to an artistic workman. The combinations of color that can be produced are infinite, and the curious blending of regularity and irregularity, in the designs and figures, renders it a most attractive process to practise with.

One great attraction about it is the sense of suspense, and the impossibility of telling just what effect is being produced, until the knots are all untied, and the cloth washed off and opened out.

Another attraction is the feeling of working all the time in an unexplored or very partially explored country. There is the constant chance of obtaining at any moment effects never thought of before. The experimenter is always trying some new little trick in tying, or in folding, or in dyeing, the results of which can never be foreseen accurately, and which are always interesting and often very beautiful.

=Tied and Discharged Work.=—One day, in our laboratory, some experiments were made which resulted in a modification of this process which, so far as we know, was entirely new, and which presents very interesting possibilities, to say the least. We made the experiment of dyeing the cloth first, and then tying it up, and putting it in a bleaching solution, so as to discharge the color everywhere excepting where it was protected by the tying. The experiment was successful, resulting (see Plate IV, Fig. b), in a series of dark patterns on a light background. All kinds of modifications of this can be made. For instance, the cloth can be dyed with a mixture of two or three dyes, some of which are fast and the other or others can be discharged by the chemical used. The pattern thus will be the full mixed color, say brown, against a background of red or yellow or blue as the case may be.

[Illustration: FIG. 11—CENTRE AND CORNERS TIED

FIG. 12—DYED, UNTIED AND SHAKEN OUT

TIED AND DYED WORK-CONTINUED]

The important thing about this modification is to select the proper bleaching agent to act on the particular colors, and the particular kind of material, used. Our first experiments were with bleaching powder (chloride of lime), dissolved in water, say two tablespoonfuls to the gallon, with, if necessary, a few drops of acetic acid or weak sulphuric acid stirred into it. This powerful bleaching agent is very apt to attack the cloth, and only heavy materials, such as scrim or heavy calico should be used with it. But although so strong, it does not act at all readily on a large number of the dyestuffs, including many of the Vat colors. Some of these, like the Indanthrene colors, are not affected at all, Indigo is changed from blue to a brilliant shade of yellow. And Thio Indigo Red B produces curious shades of purple, settling, where exposed to the full action of the bleaching agent, to orange.

Later we repeated the experiments, using hydrosulphite of soda, say two tablespoonfuls to the gallon of warm water, as a discharge, with much better success. The cloth was not injured, even when delicate materials like silk and light poplins were used. And the great majority of colors, including nearly all the best Salt, Sulphur, and Acid dyes, reduced rapidly and well. The Vat dyes will reduce, and, in the presence of caustic soda, will dissolve out of the exposed cloth almost entirely, but it is hard to reduce them to white in this way. In every case the color, after reduction, must be washed at once in warm soap and water, or else, on exposure to the air, the color may come back to some extent, owing to oxidation.

A weak bath of hydrosulphite of soda, also, should always be on hand, in the former bleaching process; for, when bleaching powder (chloride of lime) or other chlorine compounds, such as Javelle water or Labarraque’s solution, are used for destroying the color, their further action can be stopped, and also the offensive smell removed, by dipping the bleached material into a so-called antichlor, like this hydrosulphite.

This subject of discharge is dealt with more at length in a future chapter.

[Illustration:

(a) EXAMPLE OF TIED AND DYED WORK

(b) EXAMPLE OF TIED AND DISCHARGED WORK

PLATE IV.]