Fabric Printing: Danzinger Blueprints

Or Part 1 in a series designed to answer Jeff's Burning Question: What Exactly Is It That You Do All Day?

The weather of late has been quite beautiful, and the mums at school decided a little spring outing was in order. We plotted something that would educate us a bit about Czech culture, so we could justify the trip to our working spouses, but something with a little shopping so it would be interesting for those of whom "culture outings" induces narcolepsy.

Our excursion lead us to a fabric hand-dying workshop in Olešnice, Moravia, about a one hour drive from Brno. The fabric dyeing operation has been in existence since 1816, and the techniques of dyeing and the machinery used performing without change since 1849. Well, "without change" except for that little break during the initial periods of communist rule. But, patience, grasshopper, we shall get there.

There were 14 of us who made the trip, representing 11 countries of origin (Australia, CR, Denmark, France, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Taiwan, UK, and US, if you are interested). We are a diverse group, with the common thread of children at the International school.

The shop is primarily a tourist destination, but its purpose is to carry forward a piece of history. "Blue print dyeing" is not so much a "Czech cultural process" as it is a family business that began dyeing four generations ago, and carries on, in pretty much the same place and in the same way today. That is astonishing on many levels, and even more so when you remember that the Czech Republic was Communist from 1948 to 1989.

During that period, the business came close to dissolving. It was shut completely from 1948 until 1959, whereupon it was re-opened by co-operative of handcrafters, run, of course, under the auspices of the Communist Party. The family that had previously owned it were allowed to be employees of the shop, but of course had relinquished ownership when the Communists came to power. And so they continued until the Velvet Revolution, whereupon the original family members were able to re-acquire it under their names.

Interesting stuff. As a native born American, it boggles my mind that a government can have such power over private industry. As someone who lived behind the Great Firewall of China for three years, I think, well, that is the way it is some places, right?

But, on to the fabric! Blue print dyeing uses the same principle as that used by batik dyers: wax resist dyeing. The basic concept is that a waxy substance is pressed onto white fabric, and then the fabric is dyed indigo. The waxy substance is washed off, so you have a reverse print. Here's a step by step photo walk through:

The carved blocks below were made from applewood and are 150 years old. The blocks today are made of metal, but these wood carvings are works of art themselves. The glass jar contains the wax-like substance that is used protect the white fabric from the dye. Our guide described the wax-like substance as a "secret ingredient," but I've seen Kung Fu Panda, so I don't fall for that sort of thing so easily.

Isn't that beautiful! It's a print block, used to stamp the wax-like substance on fabric. Intricately carved, the pattern repeats are just gorgeous.

The block is dipped in the wax-like material and stamped onto white fabric. The fabric is hung to dry for 24 hours.

Fabric is then hung and dipped into this pine cask of indigo dye that is sunk two meters into the floor. The cask is 175 years old and has been hanging out exactly here for exactly that long. Our guide explained that he expects the cask to last another two generations. Perhaps a bit optimistic, given the the appearance of the visbile pine, but who am I to crush someone elses dream?

Here the fabric is being dipped. It is a fairly long and complicated dipping and drying process that involves dipping for some period of time, drying, dipping again, and it all took much longer than I thought reasonable, and I was sure I would be able to remember exactly the interesting timing tidbits to repeat for you here, particularly given that I saw the demonstration only a few hours ago. But I was mistaken. Suffice to say, it takes a long time.

The final step is to dip the dyed fabric into vinegar to dissolve the wax-like substance, thereby revealing the original pressed on design.

And the results? Lots of lovely blue fabrics with gorgeous hand carved patterns all hand dyed onto them. The shop was darling and more than fulfilled the desires of those mums for whom shopping was the key reason for the outing. I picked up that charming (silk!) scarf front and center, a pair of potholders and made a dash for the sunshine. It was far too nice a day to hang out inside a shop.

 

Comments

[Monica]

Dashing for the sunshine, and away from the tempting color of blue!

[Gwynna]

I <3 the pinwheels! What other colors of fabric do they use? I can see black, but is that also red I see in the little purses, or is that yarn?

And thanks for all the posts - procrastination becomes you!

[Jen]

Oh my, all that blue...good thing I wasn't there. I love blue...

[Debbie Hanson]

Ok.....being totally nosy. How much for said silk scarf? I would assume it was expensive given the material and time. I like the blue and black? one on the right....though I'm trying to figure out how they would stamp black? fabric for the pattern and then dye it blue.

[Ellen]

Hey, I never replied to this! The scarf set me back about $12US. Not too bad for a hand dyed silk scarf. Certainly more than I would have paid in Shanghai, but we're not in Shanghai any more, are we, Toto?

I have no idea how the black lines were added to the scarf with them. I did want to ask, but we were a large crowd, and time ran short as we *all* needed to get back to school to pick up our children!