How does Nantong embroidery make Nantong blue calico? detailed

The most typical blue calico is the pattern of white flowers on a blue background and blue flowers on a white background. White flowers on a blue background only need one disk, and the patterns formed are not connected with each other. Generally, two flower plates are overprinted with blue flowers on a white background. The first flower plate is called "home page" and the second flower plate is called "cover plate" when it is slightly dry. The cover plate covers the connection part of the first pattern board to make the pattern connection natural. Blue flowers on a white background are difficult to carve, usually from the hands of masters of folk artists. This traditional craft with blue and white background has complicated manufacturing process.

Nantong folk blue calico is made by hand spinning, hand weaving and hand dyeing. Its patterns are all carved by hand, and each carved paper tray is like paper-cutting art, with simple, rough and lively style, and its artistic image is often highly generalized and exaggerated, with strong local characteristics. Folk blue printing technology has basically maintained the traditional craft for hundreds of years, and its specific production process is as follows:

Select grey cloth

In the step of selecting grey cloth, farmers generally choose fine cotton cloth and dyed blue printed cloth; Ordinary grey cloth is mainly dyed with pure blue.

degrease

Soak the selected cloth in water containing additives such as Taikoo Oil at 50-60℃, then put the cloth in clean water, take it out and dry it in the sun after 2-3 days.

Roll into thin sheets

Paper trays for engraving are usually made of 3-5 layers of paper. The paper is 2-3 layers of Guiyang paper or mulberry paper and 1-2 layers of Korean paper. Brush the homemade batter, dry it, brush it with a layer of cooked tung oil, and then flatten it for later use.

Take samples and replace sample plates.

First make a brush with wool (4-5 cm in diameter), wrap one end tightly, and then dip a little pigment powder in the brush to replace the original sample or redesign a new sample.

engraving plate

Generally, two or three layers of oil paper (kraft paper) are bound together, and a general pattern is drawn on the kraft paper. Use a self-made carving knife instead of a knife to carve, and the knife should be vertical at all times, and strive to make the upper and lower layers have the same flower shape. After cutting the inclined plane with iron sheet, clamp the meat cutter and wrap it with bamboo pieces. Carving knives can be divided into inclined single knife, double knife and iron round knife (commonly known as "chisel"). Single-knife faceted, double-knife carved lines have the same width, and the chisel is divided into several sizes, mainly to chisel out the points needed to make the flower board.

There are facets, lines and dots in lettering. The surface mainly uses the knife-breaking method to express large patterns, which is also the most typical knife method in blue calico. The lines in the blue calico pattern should be carved smoothly, and the lines are divided into negative lines and positive lines. "Engraving dots" are generally made with a self-made tool trowel, and dots generally play a decorative role in patterns. In addition to lettering, there are substitutes. The pages used in the early days were colored to keep the pattern, and then carved for reuse.

Shandong petroleum

First, smooth the reverse side of the engraved pattern with pebbles, then brush tung oil to reinforce it, dry it, brush the front and back sides with oil for 2-3 times, finally dry it and flatten it, classify and save it, and print and dye it directly if necessary.

Scraping pulp

Before scraping the pulp, the grey cloth is sprinkled with water and then rolled up. The purpose of wetting is to make the white cloth absorb the dyeing pulp better. Corn flour, wheat flour, glutinous rice flour, etc. It has been used as a dye-proof size for folk blue cloth. After several generations of exploration and practice, soybean powder with moderate viscosity was finally selected. However, simple soybean powder is easy to deteriorate in summer, and the cost is high. After adding lime powder, it is easy to scrape off not only the sizing, but also the mortar after dyeing. Therefore, people always use soybean flour and lime as dye-proof pulp, and the ratio is 1:0.7, plus water stirring. Sometimes glutinous rice flour and lime are used as dye-proof pulp according to the requirements of pattern. When sizing, the consistency (viscosity) should be moderate. The finer the soybean flour, the more thoroughly the slurry is mixed, and the better the viscosity is.

Put the engraved pattern on the white cloth and you can scrape the pulp. Force should be even when scraping pulp. Scrapers are generally forged with iron in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and handles are made of logs. In Hunan and Hubei, they are also made of horns and boards. It is more important to pick up the plate when scraping. When the pattern is complex, the layout should be accurate and the typesetting should be free. Then dry the grey cloth in the shade for two days with anti-dye pulp, and put it into the cylinder for dyeing after the mortar is dry.

Dye

Pour indigo into a small jar, mix 5kg indigo with 8kg lime10kg rice wine and add some water to stir, so that indigo water turns yellow and indigo foam appears on the water surface. Folk commonly known as "indigo flower", and then poured into a vat for dyeing. Put the bamboo basket into the jar before dyeing.