The mineral part is mainly from river mud, which is still not replaced by modern dyes. Pure vegetable dyes and minerals are the most environmentally friendly dyes.

After weaving into a leno fabric and plain silk fabric, the juice of dioscium, a unique plant dye in Guangdong, is used many times to soak and sun-coat the mature grey silk, so that the fabric adheres to a layer of yellow-brown gelatinous substance. Later, it is covered with river silt unique to the Pearl River Delta region, rich in a variety of minerals, and is repeatedly dried, washed and fermented.

When the dioscorea yarn is processed, the juice of the yamava is used as a natural dye, and the grey silk is repeatedly impregnated and dyed many times, and after the semi-finished product is dyed brown and yellow, it is smeared on one side with black pond mud rich in iron, and exposed to the scorching sun.

After the iron ions and other biochemical components in the mud fully react with the tannic acid in the diosca juice to form black ferrous tannin, shake off the pond mud and clean it, it becomes a fragrant cloud yarn with a black face and yellow and a shining oil. The black ingredient is ferrous tannic acid, and the brown ingredient is oxidative and denatured tannic acid.

The weaving of Xiangyun yarn is made of mulberry silkworm silk, which is divided into ranunculus yarn and ranunculus silk.

Yarn, the traditional weaving method of plain weave on the ground from the skein idea dark flowers, and the pattern is small; Of course, the yarn produced by the current textile machine can be jacquard in a variety of patterns. Silk, plain weave, tight texture.

These two materials are one jacquard and one plain weave. The white embryo of the silk produced by modern textile machines is generally too tight, and the air permeability of the finished product is not as good as that of traditional hand-weaving.

When Lin Yan was very young, she once went to her father Lin Yun's ranunculus factory.

This factory is named Lingyun Ranunculus Factory after the homonym of his father's name, and it still completely maintains the ancient hand-made process of processing Xiangyun yarn.

70 years ago, Lin Yun, who was young and poor, entered the Xiangyun Yarn Factory and began to work as an apprentice. After three years of apprenticeship, Lin Yun enlisted in the army, went to the front line, and traveled all over the country.

Until the end of the 80s, Lin Yun was obsessed with Xiangyun yarn. He gathered folk masters and reopened the drying factory.

He himself regained the production skills of Xiangyun yarn, studied the processes of sealing the water, drying the grass, and crossing the river mud, and repeated tests on the times, concentration, and time of dipping and drying, and perfected the dyeing and finishing process of "three washing, nine boiling, and eighteen drying" of Xiangyun yarn before he could start to learn the craft.

In the small wooden shed of the Lingyun drying factory, large and small potato buttercups are stacked all year round. In the past, the grinding of potatoes was done by hand, and the master's hands would be rubbed. Now all of them are beaten by machines, which is much more convenient, and the workers are not so hard.

The production time of Xiangyun yarn is generally from April to November every year, while the dried Xiangyun yarn generally needs to be stored for half a year before it can be worn.

The output of pure handmade Xiangyun yarn is very limited, and the annual output of Lingyun Drying Factory is only about 100,000 meters.

Lin Yun said earnestly, "Quality is not quantity, Lingyun Drying Factory is the oldest existing drying plant in Foshan, and this signboard cannot be smashed." ”

From the 80s of the last century to the present, for more than 30 years, Lin Yun has devoted almost his life savings and efforts to the cause of inheriting Xiangyun yarn.

When many of his peers are already at home and enjoying the knees of their children and grandchildren, Lin Yun, who is in his old age, still stays in the Lingyun drying factory every day, witnessing every inch of Xiangyun yarn with the workers. Lin Yun's attachment to Xiangyun yarn caused him to have limited time to accompany his wife and children, which also made him feel guilty.

Even so, Lin Yun's steps were still firm, "There is a point of heat, a point of light, since I am the inheritor, I have the obligation to do it well." ”