Colourful cloths are dyed and woven and hung high on rows of bamboo poles outside the courtyard, and the wind blows, and the colorful cloths float with the wind, dotting the lively courtyard on holiday afternoons.

In the eyes of many people, this is a different kind of family - Mr. Chen Jinglin admires nature and weaves his own paintings, and his wife Ma Yuxiu loves to dye plants and trees, picking up plant branches, leaves, roots and bark, they wear their own hand-dyed clothes and scarves, and always promote this concept of life to the people around them.

It's not a whim. In 1986, Chen Jinglin, who was teaching art and engineering in high school, became interested in dyeing plants and trees. The invention of synthetic dyes has made dyeing efficient, but it has also caused many chemicals that cannot be decomposed, leaving a heavy burden on the earth. For thousands of years before this, the ancestors extracted colors from natural materials, especially plants, and at this time, Taiwan's plant printing and dyeing skills have been basically lost.

Chen Jinglin decided to go to the Yi and Miao gathering places in Guizhou, Yunnan Province to inspect the skills of weaving, dyeing and embroidery and clothing craftsmanship. In the 10 years from 1989 to 1999, they traveled back and forth between Taipei and Yunnan and Guizhou more than 20 times.

After returning from the investigation, the two became very interested in natural dyeing, and with the support of the Weaving Hall of the Taichung County Cultural Center, they experimented with hundreds of local plants in Taiwan, dyed thousands of test pieces of grass and wood dyeing, and published the research results in two volumes of "The Flower of the Earth - Taiwan's Natural Dyeing Dictionary".

They found it a touching thing to wait for a tree to take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit, and to boil the excess branches and leaves into beautiful colors when pruning, so that the plants could stay on the cloth and paper in more beautiful colors. And passing on these beautiful feelings to more people is a happier thing than getting a piece of dyed cloth. In 2001, with the help of a few like-minded friends, Chen Jinglin and Ma Yuxiu's "Sky Dyeing Workshop" was officially opened.

Taiwan's four-season Changchun, this small tropical island is home to hundreds of plants that can be dyed. Wildflowers swaying along the roadside, thriving trees, pruned and abandoned leaves, fruits sold in the market...... In Ma Yuxiu's eyes, they are the most natural dyes.

Although there is no obvious change of seasons in Taiwan, plant growth and seasonal operation are still inseparable. Each season of plants has its own life temperature, and the selection of dyeing materials should also take into account the right time, place and people.

Depending on the season, the ingredients contained in the plant are also different, and the dyeing effect also varies greatly. Ma Yuxiu always teaches friends around him who like plant dyeing that they must choose to dye when the plant life energy is the strongest, when the plant pigment content is the most. For example, the flowering of plants consumes a lot of nutrients, so most of the time Ma Yuxiu will choose to dye the plants before flowering to get the best results.

In spring, most of the young leaves are not pigmented, so they are suitable for evergreen tree species in all seasons, such as Qilixiang, Fumu, Longan, Acacia, Marigold, and Xianfengcao.

Summer is the time when plants are the most vigorous, and it is also the most ideal dyeing season for plant dyeers in Ma Yuxiu's eyes, and her favorite blue grass is also picked in this season. Every summer, she would make a vat of brilliant blue dye from the bluegrass she had harvested, and dye beautiful cloth.

When winter comes, most of the plants enter the recuperation stage, and the plum blossoms are in full bloom at this time. In addition to the blooming plum, Ma Yuxiu also picked up the fallen fruits of maple leaves and alder with her children, and peeled the water chestnut shells bought in autumn, which were good stains.

At this time, onion skins, tea leaves, and coffee grounds that are stocked up on weekdays also come in handy. These seemingly ordinary wastes are Ma Yuxiu's first lesson in teaching people the art of dyeing plants and trees. The pigment concentration of onion skin is high, and beginners start with onion skin dyeing, which is not only easy to obtain, simple to operate, but also has a low failure rate.

Ma Yuxiu kept repeating to reporters her spirit of plant dyeing - the recycling of resources. In her eyes, onion skin dyeing is the best proof of how to get a dazzling color by not harming nature.

The skin of the onion that has been trampled on by others, as long as it is dried, is a dyeing material that can be preserved for a long time. It's hard to imagine that the unsightly onion skin can be dyed so beautifully orange-yellow, it is warm and soft, bright and not exaggerated, and it is a color that even children love.

There are also coffee grounds that are disposed of as garbage, and even the most environmentally friendly people use them as fertilizer for plant cultivation. Looking at the coffee grounds that had accumulated over time and couldn't bear to pour them out, Ma Yuxiu decided to give it another effect - dyeing the cloth.

The color of coffee is calm and simple, and it is the favorite color of many middle-aged people. After repeated attempts, Ma Yuxiu found that the coffee grounds had lost more than half of the pigment when brewing, and only when the concentration of the dye was as high as 600% could it be dyed a stronger hue, and those expired coffee beans also came in handy - 150~200% concentration can dye a fairly saturated color.

In the eyes of neighbors and friends, Ma Yuxiu and his wife, who are fascinated by the dyeing of plants and trees, are not only interested in weaving and printing and dyeing fabrics, but also fascinated by the botanical aroma emitted when they boil the dyes.

At the end of spring, wormwood grows all over the mountains, and the aroma of boiled wormwood is full of the mysterious atmosphere of the East. In spring, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and the aroma of cherry blossom trunk dye is full of Western happiness.

Every time she boils, the sweet melody of the happy birthday song lingers in her head; Boiling camphor trees can repel mosquitoes, boiling seven miles of incense will attract butterflies, a faint lotus fragrance will attract a summer evening breeze, and the strong aroma of coffee will lead people to romantic dreams.

Ma Yuxiu said that when she came into contact with plant dyeing, she did not think that it would change her life. It's like when she and her husband thought they would dink for the rest of their lives, but their son came to him in the fragrance of plants boiled in the dyeing house. Ma Yuxiu feels that this is the best gift from God to bring plants to herself.

My son, who is already in the first grade of elementary school, is fascinated by the same fascination as his parents. He loved to go out and pick with his mother, and he could get to know dozens of different plants and say which plants could be dyed in what color.

In order not to harm the plants, Ma Yuxiu always went to the Chinese medicine shop to buy the colors that needed the roots or bark of the plants to print and dye, or waited for the typhoon to pick up the dead branches that had been blown off. Influenced by his mother, the son is like a plant-dyed environmentalist, passing on his parents' views on plants to his classmates and teachers in a small schoolyard.

Winter turns to spring, Ma Yuxiu and her "Sky Dyeing Workshop" have been running for 9 years. Office workers in Taipei, teachers in primary and secondary schools in various places, residents of Three Gorges Town who dye blue grass with blue grass, and residents of Xinpu Town who dye cloth with persimmons are all students of Chen Jinglin and Ma Yuxiu. The art of living, art of life, is the way of life that Ma Yuxiu conveys with her dyeing of plants and trees.

Just like the simple brown dyed by coffee, it is just right to match the plain cotton; The tender green of Qili incense and the crimson of madder are enough to highlight the luster and beauty of silk; The bright yellow of Fumu, the olive green of Xianfeng grass, and the dark brown of tea are all suitable for the flexibility and comfort of linen. Visual, tactile, olfactory and psychological satisfaction can all be obtained in the dyeing of plants and trees.

Ma Yuxiu said, "Whenever this happens, I always sigh at the selflessness and greatness of God's creation, and I can also realize that the most intimate and touching art is actually all around us." ”

Just like Ma Yuxiu said in her book of plant dyeing: wander in the colorful colors of plant dyeing, follow the footsteps of nature to experience the temperature of life, feel the changes of the four seasons, and wait for the next spring flowers, summer wind, autumn clouds, winter sun; Waiting for the bark of the next season of pruning, waiting for the next round of astringent persimmon fruit, waiting for the lotus, lotus pod, lotus seed shell next summer, waiting for the olive leaf and water chestnut shell in winter......

In ancient China, blue (i.e., blue), red, yellow, white, and black were called the five colors, which are also natural colors and primary colors. The primary color is mixed by counterstaining and other methods to obtain multiple colors such as green, purple, pink and other colors, also known as intermediate colors.

One of the earliest red mordant dyes used by human beings, also known as: broken blood grass, red root grass, etc., there are mainly three kinds of Oriental Akane, Western Akane and Indian Akane. In ancient China, it was called Ru Rhizome, earth blood, and it was the main red dye as early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Madder contains a large amount of alizarin, alizarin, pseudoalizarin, etc., which can be obtained from light red to dark red after a series of complex processes such as adding mordant, extracting pigment, and dyeing. Among the large number of silk textile relics unearthed, madder dyeing accounts for a considerable proportion.

Safflower dyed is "true red", the fiber can directly absorb the color, and the uncomplicated dyeing process makes safflower occupy an important position in the red dye. The red color of safflower is different from the red color of madder, which is earthy red, and the red flower is bright red.

In fact, safflower has two pigments, red and yellow, but yellow cannot exist as a dye, and yellow pigment is easily soluble in water and acidic liquids; The red pigment will precipitate in a neutral or weakly acidic state, and the lake will be deposited on the fiber to obtain a red effect.

Also known as Su Fang, Su Fang, Su Fang. Sumu is a famous red dye in ancient China, and the pigment of Sumu needs to be extracted, and the center of the Sumu trunk is used as a mordant to extract the pigment.

Since the Tang Dynasty, the official uniforms of the four high-ranking officials have been dyed from Su Mu. In addition, the variation of hematism is more diverse, and the color produced by the interaction with different mordants is also different.

If iron dioxide is used as a mordant, it will get a purplish color. Using chromium oxide as a mordant can be dyed black, becoming hematoxy black.

Any plant that can be used to produce indigo (i.e., indigo) can be collectively referred to as "indigo". Blue and bluegrass were both ancient names, and are now collectively referred to as indigo. In the "Compendium of Herbs", Li Shizhen divided the blue grass into five kinds of blue: woad, knotweed, horse, wood and amaranth.

The main dyeing method of bluegrass is to soak it, mash it, and then add lime to make it into a solid indigo shape, which is easy to carry, preserve, and sell.

Also known as water gardenia, mountain gardenia. The fruit of gardenia is a natural yellow dye, dyed yellow hue is bright, in the Qin and Han dynasties gardenia dyeing has been extremely common, in the Han Dynasty palace royal clothes are used gardenia dyeing.

At the same time, the gardenia dyeing procedure is simple, the pigment can be extracted by decoction, and the depth of the yellow pigment can be controlled by acidic liquid, such as: adding more vinegar can be more yellow and bright. However, due to the weakness of gardenia pigment against sun, it was partially replaced by other yellow dyes (locust flowers).

It is also called tulip, tulip, baodingxiang, turmeric, and is a perennial herbaceous plant. The main part of turmeric is its roots, and the dyeing method is simple, it can be dyed by soaking, and the dyeing is darker than that of locust flowers and gardenias, but overall it is still a bright hue.

If you use mordant, you can get different colors, such as adding ash juice and aluminum salt, you can dye lemon yellow; Add copper salt medium to dye greenish-yellow; The orange-yellow color is obtained by adding an iron salt medium.

The broad sense of locust flower refers to the flower and bud of the leguminous plant, and the dye of the locust flower mainly refers to the stamen of the locust flower, the locust flower itself has a refreshing fragrance, and the yellow dyed is bright and bright, which is deeply loved by women in the Song Dynasty.

The extraction of locust anthocyanin requires mordant, and alum or alum is generally used. After decoction, it will show a reddish-yellow soup, and the dyeing degree is similar to that of gardenia, and the degree of anti-Japanese sunshine is higher than that of gardenia, and it partially replaced gardenia dyeing after the Song Dynasty.

Also known as mortar, pest, mortar, qiongzi tree, etc., it belongs to the euphorbiaceae family. The dyeing part is the leaf, the leaf is the traditional black dye, the extraction of the black mortar pigment requires mordant, the leaf and iron compound mordant can be used to obtain gray pigment, through multiple counterstaining can obtain black hue. However, the dyeing is more limited, and it is suitable for dyeing cotton and linen fabrics.

Also known as 100 insect warehouse, 100 medicine decoction, cocoon, in ancient times called "no food", "oak gallnut", gallnut hue is similar to blue grass dark dyeing bluish black, gallnut dyeing also needs iron compound mordant, but different iron compounds will produce different hue and chromaticity, the same as gardenia, gallnut dyeing pigment depth is also controlled by acidity.

Mordant dyeing of ferrous iron will make the color of gallic bias towards blue black, but using ferric acetate as a mordant will produce a gray pigment that does not favor any color, and after deep dyeing, it will obtain a black hue.

In addition to these plant dyeing methods developed by the ancient Chinese, modern Western environmentalists have also begun to study the use of nature's true colors for dyeing, which we will introduce next time.

A list of dyeing and dyeing of plants and trees used by modern people is attached for those who are interested in studying.

The method of coloring textiles using natural plant dyes is called "plant dyeing". Neolithic people began to use natural plant dyes in addition to the application of mineral pigments. It has been found that the roots, stems, leaves, and skins of wild flowers and fruits all over the mountains can be soaked in warm water to extract the dye. After repeated practice, the ancient people of our country finally mastered a set of dyeing techniques using this kind of dye.

Real plant dyeing is a color dyed with the help of the power of plants and trees themselves, conforming to the changes of the natural seasons and acting according to the seasons.

The real dyeing of plants and trees is to use the power of the plants and trees themselves, conform to the changes of the natural seasons, act according to the seasons, and the color dyed is the vitality and living dyeing of plants and trees. The work of the dyer comes from nature, and nature forms the habit of observing nature, looking for beauty from nature, and finding color from nature.

The method of coloring textiles using natural plant dyes is called "plant dyeing". Neolithic people began to use natural plant dyes in addition to the application of mineral pigments.

By the Zhou Dynasty, plant dyes had reached a certain scale in terms of variety and quantity, and officials who were specially managed for plant dyes were set up to collect dyed grass for the purpose of dyeing clothes. In the Ming Dynasty, "Tiangong Kaiwu" and "Tianshui Iceberg Record" recorded 57 kinds of color names, and in the Qing Dynasty, "Snow Eun Embroidery Spectrum" has appeared a total of 704 kinds of color names.

In modern times, traditional Japanese colors are derived from nature, plant observation, and the aesthetic refinement of dyeing and weaving, so we later heard many plant names, such as branch color, maroon, etc.

They have a botanical garden that specializes in dyeing and weaving plants, and a large part of Japan's traditional colors come from the colors of plant dyes.

Yukio Yoshioka is a well-known publisher of dyeing and weaving books in Kyoto, and his owning company has published a large number of books related to kimono dyeing and weaving, and has also edited some important works on dyeing and weaving, the most famous of which is the 30-volume set of "The Beauty of Dyeing and Weaving" published by Kyoto Academy.

For the purpose of compiling books, Yoshioka collected a large number of dyed fabrics from the East and the West, including a large number of kimonos. The kimonos he collected were mainly Yuzen, such as the Yuzen dyed small sleeves with the pattern of the silk treasure boat, and the water waves and boat patterns depicted on the blue ground, which were more elegant; Produced in Okinawa, the kapok chrysanthemum peony Qinghai ripple red clothes, which are both gorgeous and quite rustic; The Basho Plaid Pattern Clothes and the Tung Plate Ground Warp and Weft Pattern are all shrunken patterns made of special fibers, which are very simple, but they are extremely rare products.

Vegetable dyeing is the most beautiful and natural color. But it is withering day by day, and Chinese painting pigments are also facing the same dilemma. These persistent craftsmen are not so much fighting against chemical dyeing as they are fighting against the industrial civilization of mass production, beauty needs time to precipitate, and hand-made work embodies our hearts.

"Qingqing Zijin", "Qingqing Zipei", "Green Clothes, Green Clothes and Yellow Clothes" and "Book of Songs" recorded the most romantic stroke of grass and wood dyeing in the early history of our country in the most simple but eternal way. To this day, dyeing is preserved as an attitude to life.

When Eucalyptus went to visit Asha, a herb dyeing craftsman, at Nanshan in the West Mountain, she was waiting for the pot of sumac dye to boil. The place where I live is too quiet, and a girl's family is not afraid, just because I like natural colors.

Because she loves everything that follows the laws of nature and is simple inside and outside, she has always adhered to the plant dyeing process related to color, time and nature since she came to Hangzhou in recent years.

Asha's great-grandfather was a well-known dyeing family in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and his grandfather moved the dyeing workshop to Wuxi for a generation, and the family was a master of dyeing. A few years ago, after the demolition of the ancestral home in Wuxi, she came to Hangzhou to settle down, and the experience of dyeing cloth has always made her unforgettable.

Asha has found a way of life that is most in tune with her heart, which is to communicate with plants every day, to talk to colors, and to appreciate their language. She wants to give a new lease of life to traditional techniques such as plant dyeing in a contemporary context.

Dyeing, is impatient, the grasp of color is subtle, gentle, this is like traditional Chinese painting, whether it is ink or heavy color, the really good is not the eye-catching brightness, not a strong impact, the traditional aesthetic complex of the Chinese, talk about some subtle, some harmony, and being a person is the same truth.

It is no accident that the grass dyes are "revived" in Asha's hands, she wants to pick up a skill and craft of her ancestors, which can also be said to be a color washed away by the torrent of the industrial age. ”

In the handmade works of plant dyeing, there are always unexpected surprises, and we only participate in the first half of the whole creation, and the subsequent part is completely handed over to the material. Water, temperature, dyes, materials, weather and other factors work together to create a collaboration between man and nature.

Asha said: "It takes time to dye plants and trees, and you can only complete it if you calm down and slow down. I want to find a way back by doing something other than life, the beauty of plants is not the ethereal snow in spring, their beauty exudes the breath of fireworks in the world, infiltrating into our clothing, food, housing and transportation, and the corners and corners of ordinary life. The latest chapter of "Dream Claw Book House in the Great Era" is free to read for the first time.