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Paper-cutting imprint style develops
By Wang Yan and Wang Jie |
February 22, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ANTING, a town in Jiading, has sandy soil ideal for cultivating cotton. For this reason, all the households specialize in cotton growing, spinning and weaving. Comparatively coarse in texture, the cloth is either plain or dyed, with the former known as "white cloth" and the latter "indigo cloth."
In the beginning, the cloth was either exclusively white or indigo, void of any designs. During the reign of Emperor Jiatai of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), a woman surnamed Gui accidentally stained her white cloth, which was drying under the sun with indigo juice and wet lime. When the cloth was dried, she removed the lime.
To her surprise, she spotted indigo prints on it. Out of curiosity, she used indigo and lime slurry to draw flower patterns onto a piece of white cloth and dried it under the sun. Then she saw the beautiful indigo flower prints appearing. She repeated the process and achieved the same results.
She then placed a piece of paper cutting onto a piece of white cloth and applied indigo and lime slurry over it. The slurry leaked into the cloth along the margins of the paper cutting, leaving behind an imprint. Showing off her works to others, she won praise from them all. And the skill of producing herb-spot fabric was born.
As time went by and technology developed, herb-spot fabrics gradually lost their popularity and blue prints became the dominant design.
During the mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the fame of these blue prints spread across the country and commerce in this town located by the East China Sea flourished. People flocked in doves to buy them, and tried to learn the production process, substantially promoting the popularity of blue prints as a result.
Demand for this creations exploded. And, as the fabrics were entirely hand-made, it was time-consuming and laborious to produce it in bulk. To meet the growing market demand, efforts were made to improve the production process. Pre-designed patterns were drawn onto a piece of paper and cut into hollow-outs. Tung oil was painted on the paper to make the stencil harder, so as to replace the need to replicate the design by hand painting. Output was greatly boosted.
In the 1950-60s, almost all of women's clothes, handkerchiefs, sheets, handbags, cloth-wrappers and door curtains were made with blue print fabrics. Hence, the older generation in Jiading is familiar with the making of blue prints.
Blue prints thus became popular not just in the rural areas but also in the big cities.
When household-based production could no longer meet the market demand, specialized dye-works sprouted all over the town, sending blue prints into unprecedented popularity across China.
In the beginning, the cloth was either exclusively white or indigo, void of any designs. During the reign of Emperor Jiatai of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), a woman surnamed Gui accidentally stained her white cloth, which was drying under the sun with indigo juice and wet lime. When the cloth was dried, she removed the lime.
To her surprise, she spotted indigo prints on it. Out of curiosity, she used indigo and lime slurry to draw flower patterns onto a piece of white cloth and dried it under the sun. Then she saw the beautiful indigo flower prints appearing. She repeated the process and achieved the same results.
She then placed a piece of paper cutting onto a piece of white cloth and applied indigo and lime slurry over it. The slurry leaked into the cloth along the margins of the paper cutting, leaving behind an imprint. Showing off her works to others, she won praise from them all. And the skill of producing herb-spot fabric was born.
As time went by and technology developed, herb-spot fabrics gradually lost their popularity and blue prints became the dominant design.
During the mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the fame of these blue prints spread across the country and commerce in this town located by the East China Sea flourished. People flocked in doves to buy them, and tried to learn the production process, substantially promoting the popularity of blue prints as a result.
Demand for this creations exploded. And, as the fabrics were entirely hand-made, it was time-consuming and laborious to produce it in bulk. To meet the growing market demand, efforts were made to improve the production process. Pre-designed patterns were drawn onto a piece of paper and cut into hollow-outs. Tung oil was painted on the paper to make the stencil harder, so as to replace the need to replicate the design by hand painting. Output was greatly boosted.
In the 1950-60s, almost all of women's clothes, handkerchiefs, sheets, handbags, cloth-wrappers and door curtains were made with blue print fabrics. Hence, the older generation in Jiading is familiar with the making of blue prints.
Blue prints thus became popular not just in the rural areas but also in the big cities.
When household-based production could no longer meet the market demand, specialized dye-works sprouted all over the town, sending blue prints into unprecedented popularity across China.
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