Textile Heritage: How To Inherit The Wisdom Of Ancestors?

　　 Inheritor profile

National intangible heritage " Blue calico Wu Yuanxin, a successor, is a typical figure who promotes market production by academic research. At the age of 17, Wu Yuanxin entered the dyeing house for 5 years, and devoted himself to 5 years. He worked for 10 years at the Nantong Institute of Tourism Arts and crafts. Until 1997, he founded the first blue print Museum of Nantong blue print in China, which integrates collection, display, research, production and operation on the basis of Nantong tourist handicraft Research Institute. Commendable is Wu Yuan Xin The combination of practical experience and theoretical guidance, from dyeing house to classroom, is not only a master of Arts and crafts, but also a scholar. Wu Yuanxin's research and dissemination of blue printed cloth mainly include publishing works and promoting cooperation with universities. It has published and published the collection of Chinese blue print patterns, the collection volume and patterns, as well as research works and technical monograph. At the same time, he actively cooperated with many universities in the country. He not only served as director of the blue print Research Institute of Nantong Vocational College, but also offered elective courses and exhibitions of traditional printing and dyeing techniques at Soochow University, China Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua Academy of fine arts. Printing and dyeing skills Combined with university education, it has become an important and effective step to popularize traditional skills.

Wu Yuanxin insisted on inheriting and innovating and successfully combining with the market. Over the past 10 years, more than 500 varieties of tablecloths, wall hangings, clothing, shoes and hats and toys have been innovated. They not only sell well to Shanghai, Suzhou and other places, but also sell to overseas markets such as Japan. At present, the purpose of the blue print museum is to integrate collection, research, teaching, production and sales, and the sales revenue of the sales department is an important source of "business support".

On the issue of inheritance, Wu Yuanxin said he was very helpless. He and his colleagues in the process of investigation and understanding, the current domestic blue print cloth less than 50 people, and this number is still decreasing year by year, this situation seriously threatens the inheritance, protection and development of blue printed cloth. None of the students taught by Wu Yuanxin was willing to learn the dyeing and finishing of blue calico. Now Wu Yuanxin's daughter and son-in-law are willing to inherit the work that their father has devoted most of their lives to. They are busy with museums during the day and study the dyeing and finishing techniques of blue calico at night.

　　 Innovative application

With the continuous improvement of people's living conditions, the application of blue printed cloth has gradually separated from daily life, and is often used for dolls, folding fans and wall hanging. Except for the use of traditional cotton cloth for dyeing and finishing, Wu Yuanxin successfully developed blue printing real silk fabric dyeing and printing technology in 5 years. This invention has enriched the fabric of blue printed cloth, so that it is no longer limited to printing and dyeing on cotton and linen, making the use of blue printed cloth more extensive.

　　 Distribution status

Blue printed cloth is the traditional hollow printing plate white dye printing, also known as indigo cloth. It has been more than 1300 years ago. It originated from Yu Qinhan and flourished in the Song Dynasty, which was widely developed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most of the modern blue print patterns were produced by the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At present, the main production areas of blue printing are distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, Hunan, Hubei and other places. Among them, the blue printed cloth is the most famous in Jiangsu Nantong area. According to Wu Yuanxin, the famous blue print cloth in the Nantong area, it has been benefited from uninterrupted production from ancient times to the present.

In the late 60s of last century, because of the change of people's demand, the production of blue printed cloth was gradually reduced in some parts of the country. However, because of the export to Nantong, the blue calico was only allowed to continue. Nantong Yu Xi Town is the birthplace of blue printed cloth. After liberation, there are 4 dyeing houses, including yamen doorway dyeing house, Wang Zibiao dyeing house, Feng Jia dyeing house, and Changchun dyeing house. After many changes, the existing dyeing houses only have Cao Yuxing, two Jia printing and dyeing mill and Zheng Xing dyeing house. Nowadays, apart from several dyeing houses, Nantong also has the blue print art museum, museum, Research Institute and other institutions in the inheritance of blue printed cloth.

　　 Production status

The production of blue printed cloth has been mechanized in many areas, but Nantong blue printed cloth is still different from these places, and it still keeps the way of manual production by old workshops. First of all, pick up the grey cloth and degrease it and dry it, then mount it for engraving. Generally, tung oil is brushed on the cardboard, and a vivid pattern is made by hand by various professional techniques. After the carving, the mixture of soybean flour and lime should be used as an anti staining slurry to scrape evenly on the flower plate. It is necessary to control the viscosity of the resist slurry moderately and evenly. When the grey cloth is dried, dye it into the dye vat to make the color uniform. The last important process is to scrape white, use wood or other tools to scrape the anti staining slurry in the direction of 45 degree angle of the cloth, so that the pattern will appear, then dry and dry. The traditional technology of this workshop makes the production of blue printed cloth in Nantong less modern plant's mechanical taste and more health and environmental protection. In Wu Yuanxin's view, blue printed cloth can no longer return to the state of household use, so there is no need for mass production.