Three Lengths of Safflower Dyed Cloth: One Silk, Two Bast

$85.00 USD

early twentieth century
left to right:
62" x 5 1/2", 157.5 cm x 13.5 cm
57 1/2" x 13", 146 cm x 33 cm
54 1/2" x 12 1/4", 138.4 cm x 31 cm

These three lengths of cloth that have been dyed in benibana or safflower dye: the length in the center is a flyaway weight silk and the pieces flanking it are hemp or ramie.

These pieces are being offered in the hope that they will be acquired by someone interested in natural dyeing or someone who studies or is inspired by color.

The three pieces shown here illustrate a narrow view of the wide range of warm color tones that can be extracted from safflower dye, from pale yellow to deep magenta.

The center piece is orange in tone so in this case the yellow aspect of the safflower dye was left in the safflower. In the two pink flanking pieces this yellow tone was drawn out of the dyestuff in order to achieve the cooler pink tone which was mordanted to create the fuchsia color we see here.

As can be easily seen the piece on the right shows a good deal of damage in the form of clusters of hold and a large swath of ingrained dirt.  Although damaged this length is inspiration for natural dyers and also a resource for those using natural dyed cloth in their craft or fashion projects.

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Three Lengths of Safflower Dyed Cloth: One Silk, Two Bast