Dali meets tie-dye: beautiful things, all with handmade temperature

Writing|Hawthorn Photography|Hawthorn

The wind at Xiaguan, the flowers at Shangguan, the snow on Cangshan Mountain, and the moon on Erhai Sea.

Many people go to Dali for the "wind, flowers, snow and moon". In my opinion, what attracts me most to Dali is the traditional craft of Bai and Yi folk - tie-dye.

Tie-dyeing, the ancient name of mixed flower cloth, also known as stranded val dyeing. This is a very old folk handmade printing and dyeing process. Any craft that is folk, ancient and handmade is enough to mesmerize me.

Therefore, as soon as I arrived in Dali, I couldn't care less about climbing Cangshan Mountain, and I couldn't care less about the Erhai Sea, so I went straight to Weishan Mountain.

The Weishan Yizu Autonomous County is known as the "Township of Tie-Dye in China".

This ancient city seems to have been soaked in dye for a long time, and has a simple and elegant old atmosphere. Let me come here to travel, unknowingly slowed down the pace, slowly feel the time of the ancient city. This city's temperament, I like.

I met the people of the ancient city and asked, "Where is the tie-dye workshop here?

The old man smiled and pointed to the front: "Go straight ahead, turn a corner, cross a bridge, that's it ......". It seems to be very close, but people are not familiar with the place, walking naturally lost.

In the meantime, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get the best out of this. The first thing you need to do is to get a good understanding of how to use the Internet and how to use the Internet.

I think they all know how many workshops there are here.

Finally, I found it.

Wow, this is grass and trees!

Wow, this is how cloth is dyed!

Wow, hand-embroidered work is so delicate!

Although, the production of this craft has long been familiar with, but personally saw the dyeing vat, that soaked in water plants, that stitch by stitch embroidery out of the needle, still can not help but marvel - the heart seems to have a hundred deer, can not restrain the excitement.

Look at the grass immersed in water. See linen tied into flower heads. Watch the white cloth coloring in the dye pot, bit by bit. Watch the blank linen gradually turn into a unique and unrepeatable work of art.

Fishing, spreading, drying, sunshine. Every step of the process is so exciting. I look at each piece of work, my heart is full of joy.

This kind of handmade, I prefer to call it "grass and wood dyeing". Grass and wood have the unique freshness and spirituality of nature, and how beautiful it is to immerse these characteristics in clean linen.

Dyed coasters, tablecloths, bed sheets. Dye scarves, clothes, shoes. Dyed into a variety of supplies in life. Life, too, has the life and breath of plants.

With plants, the day will not be bad. You will find that a little bit of good will come one after another.

We left Weishan and went to Zhoucheng.

Zhoucheng, known as the "township of white tie-dye art". I went there in honor of the name.

I really like this village. Once stepped on the green stone road, the white architecture, is simple and elegant.

At the end of the street, dressed in white clothing head wearing a white hat sister fluttering to and fro, their daily life, this is how to wear, very strong ethnic wind.

In the market, people who buy food and meat and fish also wear very grand. Selling Xizhou Po Po sister, sitting in front of the stall, holding the embroidery cloth, focusing on the line of needle and thread. The first time I saw this, I was in the middle of a long journey, and I was so happy to see that I was able to get to the end of it.

As I watched, I was inexplicably moved. It turns out that art is rooted in their lives. I suddenly envied them. In the ordinary life, the needle and thread as a companion, the time is not slow embroidered on the fabric, became eternal.

The most enviable thing is that every family here has a big yard. Inside the yard, there are rows and rows of bamboo poles, on which the dyed cloths enjoy sunbathing.

Between the white walls and gray tiles, the colorful dyed cloth fluttering with the wind, time, slowed down, slow as if back to the ancient times.

In the courtyard, sit and watch the granny do handicraft. She is more than eighty years old, but her needle and thread are not ambiguous at all.

The patterns she draws are vivid; the flower heads she sews are exquisite; the cloth she dyes is green with emerald green, and is dignified and pure. Decades of handwork have precipitated the craftsmanship of the elderly.

She sits in the sun, not arguing, not making a fuss, quiet like a painting. The whole life's energy has been poured into a piece of cotton cloth.

She said, our Bai girls, from a young age to learn needlework, and now, ah, teenage dolls will be tie-dye it.

In her smile, she could not hide her relief. Yes, this old ancestor handed down the craft, there is a successor, how can not be happy.

The old man is most satisfied to be able to teach the next generation what he has learned throughout his life.

In this world, how many crafts are lost because no one inherited them? Undoubtedly, tie-dye is lucky, a needle and a thread, a cloth and a jar, have a successor.

Between the rise and fall of the needle and thread, I thought of my wife.

My great-grandmother, I never met her. She passed away before I was born. But I know she had a pair of skillful hands and a wonderful heart.

When I was a kid, I was rummaging through a box and found a shoe upper. I had never seen such a beautiful vamp! A small crystal bead embroidered on white cloth, flowers bloomed, animals came to life, a world full of vitality, existed in the small ruler between the cloth, lifelike.

My grandmother told me that this was embroidered by my grandmother. From then on, I put it into my schoolbag and carried it to school every day, and it was inseparable.

Since childhood, I like handmade things.

When I was in the fourth grade, I pulled a piece of rag and started to draw on it, and then I embroidered it with a needle and a thread. At that time, the most expected is the end of school. The next bell rings, pick up the bag and run home, and then sit in front of the window carefully embroidered, in addition to the sunset, who do not know.

It was a Mickey Mouse, playful and cute, and I gave it to my desk. The first time I saw a Mickey Mouse, it was in my childhood, and I was able to get it back.

The whole point of my trip to Dali was to find workshops and favorite things.

And I was lucky enough to meet them all.

I'm Hawthorn A. I'm on a traveling road - reading, writing, photography, listening to music, and living life. I'm lucky enough to have met you, and I'm lucky enough to have met you one by one in words. If you like the words I write, remember to click a little like yo.