I tried dirt dyeing! |「海陽でやってみた！」泥染め体験編
Hi all, its Tony! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I’m here again with another dyeing experience.
こんにちは、トニーだよ！ちょっと久しぶりだけど、また新しい染色体験をしてきたよ！
This time around, we’re using something that I didn’t even know you could dye with: dirt. We’ve previously done indigo dyeing and red madder dyeing which were plant-based, but dirt? Oh boy, this is going to be fun.
今回はそれで染めることができるとも知らなかった、あるものを使って染めるよ。それが「泥」だ。以前は植物ベースの藍染めや茜染めをやったことがあるけど、でも泥？これは楽しそうだなー。
Like the other types of dye, it starts with natural organic fabric and a pattern. I did a T-shirt, but you can choose to dye handkerchiefs, socks or even bring your own!
他の染物と同じように、天然素材を使った生地への模様作りから始まるんだ。自分はTシャツにしたけど、ハンカチや靴下を染めることもできるし、天然素材であれば持参することもできるよ！
We were shown two patterns, one of which was a colorful patchy design and another, stripey design. The patchy design can be made by scrunching up your fabric of choice and tying it up tightly in one of the supplied nets. The stripey design called for a horizontal, accordion fold starting from one side of the fabric continuing all the way to the other side, and then wound up with an elastic band to prevent it from loosening.
先生が２つの模様を紹介してくれて、１つ目はカラフルなしぼり柄と２つ目はしましま柄だったよ。しぼり柄は生地をくしゃくしゃにし、ネットでしっかり縛るだけで作れるよ。しましま柄を作るには生地の片側からアコーディオン折りにして、反対側まで折り、緩まないように輪ゴムで留めるんだ。
I decided to try the stripey design, but with a bit of a twist. Instead of having stripes running just horizontally, I wanted stripes running vertically too! Once I had the pattern down, I started the dyeing process.
僕はしましま柄にしたけど、横だけでなく縦にもストライプを入れたいと思って、ちょっと変えてみたよ！これで模様が決まったので、染めの工程に入ったよ。
The dyeing process first involved dipping and firmly massaging the fabric in a pan of lime water followed by another pan containing a tannin mixture. The fabric goes through this process a couple of times, and is then rinsed thoroughly in water before being submerged in its first mixture of dirt and organic material.
まずは石灰水で生地を浸し、しっかり揉んでからタンニン液でよく揉む。この工程を2、3回繰り返した後に水でよく洗って絞る。次に、生地は最初の泥液と出会うけど、この液体には泥以外にも色んな有機物が含んであるそうだよ。
The fabric takes on a grey color after being dipped in this mixture and is then rinsed thoroughly again in water, completing the “base” dye.
この液体に浸した生地は灰色になり、それからまた水で十分にすすいで、一旦これで完了だよ。
The process from this point varies depending on what color you’re aiming for. For colors like red, orange or even yellow, you will need to dip the fabric in some of the delicious, fruit juice-looking stuff below (spoiler: it’s actually a mixture of dirt!) and then rinse it in water.
ここからの工程は目指している色によって変わるよ。赤やオレンジ、黄色を目指す場合は下の写真で見える、美味しいジュースみたいな液（※泥です）で生地を揉んでから水で洗う必要があるよ。
I chose brown, which meant the fabric needed to be dipped in the tannin mixture and then the limewater pans one final time. After rinsing it for the last time in water, I took the elastic bands off the t-shirt, revealing a nice coffee colored t-shirt with different shades of brown running through it.
僕は茶色にしたかったので、もう一度タンニン液と石灰水で生地を揉む必要があった。最後に水で洗い流して輪ゴムを外すと、さまざまな茶色が流れていって、コーヒー色のTシャツが出来上がったよ！
Global Kaiyo team member Sarah also dyed a t-shirt too, and this is what she ended up with!
グローバル海陽チームのサラさんもTシャツを染めたよ！
With dirt, you can choose from different colors that dirt, or mud would actually appear as in nature, so that’s grey, brown, red, orange and even yellow. It’s actually quite flexible when compared indigo or red madder dyeing, and you can even layer the colors! Just thinking of all the possibilities gets you excited!
泥を使うと、灰色、茶色、赤、オレンジ、そして黄色など、泥の実際の色から選ぶことができるよ。藍染めや茜染めに比べるとかなり柔軟性があり、色を重ねることもできるんだ！その可能性を考えるだけでワクワクするよね！
I was able to this try as a part of an event we held recently, but this experience is usually held at the Hi-COLOR handworks workshop, so a big thanks Shoji for coming down to the Awa Kainan Cultural Center and running this experience.
この泥染め体験は本来、山の中にある工房で行っているけど、最近開催したイベントの一環として阿波海南文化村でできたよ！Hi-COLOR handworksの庄司さんに感謝だね！
Check out their website (Japanese only) for more information on this experience and some of the other things you can do at their facility!
泥染め体験の詳細、または工房でできる他の体験については、Hi-COLOR handworksのホームページをチェックしてね！