Animal dyes commonly used in ancient Valerian dyeing

The "three valleys" in China's ancient cloth dyeing, namely, twisted valley (tie-dyeing), wax valley (batik) and sandwiched valley, have continued to this day. Dali people call this method of dyeing cloth with twisted grain a knot in one's heart cloth or a knot in one's heart flower. Before dyeing, the cloth should be folded and bundled, and then dipped into the color paste for dyeing. Because the color paste is made of plants such as Radix Isatidis, it is harmless to the skin.

The anti-agent of Valeriana officinalis is yellow wax (beeswax), which is the secretion of wax glands in the abdomen of bees. It is insoluble in water, but it can be melted when heated.

The dye used is blue grass which is abundant in Guizhou. When the leaves of bluegrass are fermented in a pit, they become indigo, which can be used for dyeing.

The colors and patterns of the cloth are printed with carving clips: the cloth is fixed between two hollow plates, the color paste is injected into the hollow plates, and the patterns appear on the cloth after the hollow plates are untied.