More on Dabu Dying

Here is the stamped cloth just after it was taken from the indigo vat. Note the sawdust shavings are still in place on the fabric at this stage

The slurry made from the mud, gum and lime is poured into a layered tray. The tray has a bottom layer of mesh, then burlap cheesecloth and organza so that the blocks take up the mud evenly. The print blocks we saw ( noted in a previous post) also used this type of tray layering. The wood blocks are stamped onto the cloth and carefully lifted. Immediately the wet imprint is covered with fine sawdust. Once the whole cloth is done it is left to dry. Then it is immersed in the indigo vat. Indigo dying is always amazing as the fabric is green when it comes out and oxidizes to the familiar indigo blue colour. I spoke with an artisan at the Delhi craft centre and obviously this technique works well with other cold water dyes (such as procion dyes). In India most of the dyes are natural dyes that are made by the artisan such as the indigo.

I spoke to the owner of this facility and said that I came from Waitomo - an area rich in lime and known for producing some of the purest lime in the world. His comment was I must listen carefully to his instruction and take the knowledge home and try it in my country because the artisan skills must not be lost. You betcha I will try. It is a sad story of many of the time consuming art/craft practices that the younger generation see an easier life in other areas and are not wanting to follow in the traditional pattern of learning the family crafts so not only are the skills in danger of waning but a way of life is also threatened. I tended to speak to the practitioners about the technical aspects of their craft work and they were all so willing to share. An amazing people and an amazing experience

Back at home I have researched the acacia gum used and found we know it as gum Arabic - the same that is used for thickening inks and dyes for other mixed media applications. I am going to start my experiments with Xanthum/guar gum as these are considerably cheaper, easy to source and require less of the gum to achieve the same results. Lime is easy enough to get and a google on black mud brings up a description of black mud being made with ferrous compounds from insufficient water. So now I am keen to get to the beach and see if I can find some tidal river mud that just might work