Art 2130-Final Project

The history of natural dyes dates back to 2600 B.C. According to Juliette Donatelli, ‘Originally, dyes were made with natural pigments mixed with water and oil used to decorate skin, jewelry and clothing. Those same dyes were also used for painting prehistoric caves, which emerged in places like El Castillo, Spain, some 40,000 years ago.’ It is said that Anthropologists believe that the origins of early coloring started with accidental staining. This staining could have come across by the coloring from berries, nuts, roots by the earliest people and just copied by them. Also, an example for this is that there have been chemical tests that show that in the red fabrics of King Tutankhamen there shows traces of Alizarin. This is a pigment from madder and the madder plant. Even though it seems as though natural dyes have become a new technique because a lot of the modern small business or fashion companies that would rather put more dedication into their designs by having everything organic or homemade. However, from this historic background, it shows how hard it is to believe that natural dyes have actually existed for so many years.

When talking in regards to natural dyes, one must think about the many ways people would dye during the that time. The three most common forms of dyes were from plants such as indigo, animals such as cochineal, and minerals such as ocher. Aside from those resources, there were other ways to dye such as using weeds, garden flowers, clay, and food byproducts. To further more the explanation, natural dyes can easily work on fabric. However, it will only work depending on what dye is being worked on. According to Kris Driessen, ‘Although some fabrics such as silk and wool can be colored simply by being dipped in the dye, others such as cotton, require a mordant. A mordant is an element which aids the chemical reaction that takes place between the dye and the fiber so that the dye is absorbed. Containers used for dying must be non-reactive (enamel, stainless steel.) Brass, copper or iron pots will do their own mordanting. Not all dyes need mordants to help them adhere to fabric. If they need no mordants, such as lichens and walnut hulls, they are called substantive dyes. If they do need a mordant, they are called adjective dyes.’ Even though using a natural dye is easy to in many ways easier to use, it is important to know that it will not always attach to a fabric because not all fabrics are created equal. Like mentioned in the previous quote, sometimes it is important to give your fabric a push to help bring together the dyes onto whatever item wants to be dyed. This is what the people of the 19^th Century had to do in order to be able to work on their fabrics.

It is also necessary to mention that even though natural dye was the only form of coloring clothing, there have now been modern techniques to dye. The other common form of dying that exists is now synthetic dye. It is used with chemicals that are easy bought and it is an ordinary way to dye anything at anytime. There is no hassle to dye like how it used to be back in the 19^th Century times. There is no necessity of specific things like mordants needed when trying to dying specific fabrics such as cotton. Cotton is a hard fabric to dye unlike silk, so synthetic dyes are easy used on whatever a person may need to dye. According to Juliette Donatelli, ‘It is estimated that over 10,000 different dyes and pigments are used industrially and over 7 x 105 tons of synthetic dyes are annually produced worldwide.’ That seems to be a lot of dyes compared the the common forms that existed so long ago. Even though synthetic dyes are simpler and so accessible, it is easy to look across the effects that synthetic dyes can have. Just like anything inorganic, there are risk that come with dealing with unrealistic items. They are toxic chemicals that can easy be transferred onto a person’s skin especially if they have open pores, such as when the body is warm.

Now that natural dyes are a historical aspect, there are many explanations as to how the dyes came about and how the first people were able to makes this process work. To explain this process, it is important to acknowledge a specific type of natural dye called Indigo. It is very popular in the Contemporary Times and it is still used often as a source of dye for clothing. According to The Teaching American History in South Carolina, ‘The process of extracting indigo dye was very complex.  The process began with placing the plant in three successive fermentation vats.  A liquid was formed.  The fermented liquid was stirred with paddles to aerate the mixture.  After adding limewater, the clear alkaline liquid turned a blue color.  The liquid was drained, and the residue strained, bagged, and left to dry. The resulting fine paste was cut into cubes and placed in barrels for storage.  The indigo produced varied in quality.’ Although the process of natural indigo is tedious, it was one of the beginning forms of natural dye. These specific moments were very important in history to explain how homemade things were in those times and how history seems to repeat itself.

Work Cited

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Natural Dyes. 6 December 2016.

http://www.teachingushistory.org/lessons/NaturalDyes.htm#bkgd

Donatelli, Juliette. The History of Fabric Dyes. 6 December 2016.

https://zady.com/features/the-history-of-fabric-dye

Driessen, Kris. Early Use of Natural Dyes in Textiles. 6 December 2016.

http://www.quilthistory.com/dye.htm

 

NATURAL DYE USING ONION SKINS

Ingredients:

-red onion skins

-large pot

-water (enough to cover pot)

-fabric

Instructions:

1. Grab about 3 large onions

1. Grab a large pot to put onion skins in.

1. Peel as much as possible of the onion skins and transfer to pot.

1. Bring onion skins to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

1. Once the onion skins have been simmered, throw them away and keep the water.

1. If the water has cooled down, re-heat and submerge the fabric in the water for 1 hour. I will be using muslin.

1. Once you have reached an hour, remove the muslin from the water and rinse.

1. Let the muslin dry before utilizing. It is common to make such historical items such as collars and cuffs. These items were mostly used during the 19th Century in men’s clothing. 

Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth I of England

Queen Elizabeth, born Elizabeth Tudor was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his wife, Anne Boleyn. At a very young age, Elizabeth lost her mother when she was 2 years old. She was sent to be decapitated and her marriage to King Henry VIII was annulled. This had meant that Elizabeth was an illegitimate child and later on went to ultimately become the Queen of England, after succeeding her sister Mary, for 45 years. Her coronation was considered The Golden Age. It is also said that she is most remembered by being the Virgin Queen and turning England into a Protestant Nation. Even though Queen Elizabeth went through a lot of hardship, she had done a lot for the nation and being the most efficient in running the government.

A few years before Elizabeth took over the throne, she had been imprisoned in the Tower on March 18^th, 1554, due to supposedly being involved with Thomas Wyatt and his followers in regards to the Wyatt Rebellion. This was also the time in which Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary, was the Queen of England.  It was until October 16^th 1555, that Elizabeth is released and was able to go to her childhood home. Later on, the day of November 17^th, 1558 it is said that Elizabeth becomes heir to the throne after her sister Mary dies from being ill.

The day that Queen Elizabeth had her coronation was on January 15^th 1559 in Westminster Abbey and she had worn a coronation mantle and matching dress that her sister Mary had worn the day of her coronation. However, the dress had to be altered for Elizabeth to fit in it. To complete her outfit, she wore a crown that was placed on her head by the Catholic bishop. She also had her crown jewels which are an orb, on her left hand, and a spectre on her right hand. It is thought that the material of her clothing that day was hand embroidery with real fur on top of her mantle.

When it came down to Elizabeth becoming Queen, she took on a lot of responsibilities, especially being accepted as the one that makes the demands. She also took on many challenges. According to Karen Woods, “The figure in the conspiracies that was to take Elizabeth’s position as monarchy was, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. After the suspicious death of her second husband, Lord Darnley, in 1566, Mary, along with the Earl of Bothwell whom she had grown very close to had been accused of assassinating the King. She was forced to leave Scotland and sought the protection of Elizabeth in England. During a nearly twenty-year stay, she was more than once suspected of conspiring to overthrow Elizabeth, but Elizabeth refused to have her executed. Only after her role in the Babington Plot was uncovered did Elizabeth send her to her death in 1587.” All of this ultimately had consequences because Spain wanted to invade England in regards to Mary’s death. The invasion created the Spanish Armada because Spain thought that the Queen of England had not right to the English throne because she was illegitimate and because of the religious backgrounds from each country.

During Queen Elizabeth’s reign. There always seemed to be a topic for discussion and that was whether or not she would marry and have children to become heirs. According to Heather Sharnette, “It was assumed that one of the first things Elizabeth would do, would be to select a husband to help her govern the realm, and more importantly, to get her pregnant. Elizabeth was the last of her dynasty, and it was thought natural that her main concern would be to provide a child to perpetuate the rule of the Tudors. Elizabeth was young, unlike her sister who was already into her late thirties when she became Queen, and there were high hopes that soon England would have a royal family again. Without an heir of the Queen’s body, the future would be uncertain, and many feared that the rival claims of Henry VII’s distant relatives, would plunge the country into a bitter civil war should Elizabeth die without a legitimate child to succeed her.” This was all necessary especially when having a Queen. There had to be someone to be by her side and be on hand if the position had to be passed down. This is one thing that Queen Elizabeth did not achieve during her time of reigning. She was able to do things herself and it was not something common during that time because every woman in power or not had to have married and have children. It is first most her duty as a woman. It was also important to the country to have someone who would be known to take power after she couldn’t reign anymore.

During Elizabeth’s reign, she was a huge asset to restoring the Protestant faith in England. When Mary was in power, there was a lot of damage done to Catholicism in England. She created the Elizabethan Church because she wanted to find a middle between her non religion, Catholicism and Protestant.  Catholics are seen with eyes and have wine and elements of bread during mass. However, Protestants was different and John Guy explains what Protestants were. “Protestantism exposed the imagination of the invisible world. It was a religion of plentiful prayers uttered in the name of a still and seated segregation and of readings of the English bible…” (171) What Queen Elizabeth wanted was for people to be accustomed to it and have it be popular because she wanted Catholicism to disappear and her religion to take control.

Elizabeth kept during her duties as Queen of England up until her death on March 24^th 1603 after not feeling well after a cold. Queen Elizabeth I had left a legacy that was thought of as, although she never married or produced an heir, she didn’t need it because she was a tough woman all on her own. She was able to bring faith back into the country and she was a woman who did it without anyone by her side.

 

Works Cited

Sharnette, Heather. Elizabeth R. http://www.elizabethi.org. 1998-2016. 6 November 2016

Woods, Karen. Queen Elizabeth I of England.   http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/elizabeth.html. 22 December 2005. 6 November 2016.

Haigh, Christopher. The Reign of Elizabeth I. 1985. 6 November 2016.

Guy, John. The Reign of Elizabeth I. 1995. 6 November 2016.

Wax Print Trade

Below, I have posted the images of the trading that went on for the last 2 days.

Heritage Wax Co.

Wax prints are known as colorful and expressive printed designs on cloths. They are typically done on cotton fabric using wax and dye because that’s how it was done when it is said to have originated back in the 1800’s. They usually resemble and symbolized a message and are based in Indonesian Batik designs that represented meaningful messages. According to what was said in the Beyond Victoriana website, that the print is, “…commonly known as “African fabric” goes by a multitude of names: Dutch wax print, Real English Wax, Veritable Java Print, Guaranteed Dutch Java, Veritable Dutch Hollandais.” However, the prints that people always associated as African are actually not originated from there. Many people believed and still believe that wax print has always been from Africa. That’s not the case because these fabrics are from Europe and eventually they became embraced by the African countries. This is why people always assume and called them as “African Wax Prints”, “African Wax Design”, or just “Tribal”. The prints are considered Indonesian because that’s where it has said to have all started. Nowadays, we know the prints as Ankara, but it used to be called Batik. Usually, this word is still used depending the occasion and that is because that was the original word used for it. Batik, a printed design on a cloth, was used with a special tool to make etches and it had to have hot wax to create the pattern or design. The designs ended up making their way to Africa by the European mills that stopped by on their way to their destination, which was Indonesia, and they would start selling their fabric in the West African ports. Selling the prints were not the only thing they did on their rest stop. They also went to refuel and buy supplies.  However, due to the popularity, the fabrics were started to cater more and more to the African preferences. Like in many marketing aspects and situations, the prints started to become unpopular in Indonesia due to the the prints having, according to Mazuri Designs, “… a particular “crackle” effect from dye bleed which cheapened the look to the Javanese who preferred their handmade products.” At this point, it didn’t matter to the West Africans because they liked the designs and perfectly took the fabrics. It really is all about the demographic and what works best for the business owner and the best decision for those prints is that they still ended up with a consumer for their prints to be sold to. Besides the above explanation, there is another suggestion as to how the wax prints came to Africa. The story is that the West African were binding soldiers for the Dutch in Indonesia. It is said that they brought back Indonesian batik with them as gifts for their families and there started to be interest for the prints. Unfortunately, the imitation Dutch wax print was the only thing at their distance. Regardless of how the prints were first introduced it is safe to say that the prints have a lot to do with Indonesia and they created a new market for tradition prints. Also, it is safe to say that the prints do have a lot of significance because they show communication through the prints and by how they are designed. In the earlier times, when it was sold in artistic form, the owner of the design fabric would create a background and story to the print. They wanted it to echo with the customer’s wants and needs. Shown below is an example of the African prints and the designs they had.

Although the wax print did not originate from the West Africa part, because of the Dutch Wax print integration, they are considered authentically African because of the significance. This has nothing to due with the fact that they were produced and designed by Europeans in Europe. They also had no input from any African regarding the design or motifs. In this day in age, the customer creates their own meaning to the designs and how they want it to be. There are even designs and motifs with catchy names and they are popular and have had a lot of success. Good things always seem to have a come back and the wax print has done it like that. Although the prints have obviously evolved and evolved over time and of course most things do that. Well, the wax prints now have done that and many different things are included. Some things in this list include pop culture and art references such as books and geometric patterns. However, there has been some couture transformations to them. According to Young, “Recently, there have been a number of design houses—both local and abroad—that have incor- porated “African” prints and motifs into their fashion lines. The inspiration of Dutch wax print designs has been noted in the collections of Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, and Diane von Furstenberg, to name a few.” (322) The print is back in a strong way because these designers know that the consumers will like this and ultimately it is bringing back a traditional piece while still keeping up with the current times.  There still continues to be a big amount of prestige for the Dutch wax and it could be due to how unique they were when first being brought over to the West Africa. The way I choose to do the assignment was to get a piece of white cotton fabric like they use. After, I got fabric ink in the colors red, black, blue, and yellow. What I did was make homemade stencils for the designs I wanted to put on the piece of fabric. What I did was lay out a thin layer of ink, grab the stencil, dip in the ink and press on the cloth. I did this repeatedly until I had covered up the entire cloth.  I let it air dry for 24 hours and cut into 20 pieces.

Works Cited

Beyond Victoriana. April 10^th 2011. https://beyondvictoriana.com/2011/04/10/african-fabrics-the-history-of-dutch-wax-prints-guest-blog-by-eccentric-yoruba/. Accessed 8 October 2016.

Mazuri Designs. February 4^th 2016. http://mazuridesigns.com/blog/2016/2/4/a-history-of-african-wax-prints. Accessed 8 October 2016.

Young, Paulette. “Ghanaian Woman and Dutch Wax Prints: The Counter-appropriation of the Foreign and the Local Creating a New Visual Voice of Creative Expression.” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 51.3 (2016): 305-327.

Greek Himation Dress

Ancient Greek clothing dates back to as early as the 6th Century B.C.E. The garments that they used to wear during that time period consisted of several different items such as the peplos, himation, chiton and strophion. For this project and assignment, the design I have chosen to go with is the men’s himation dress. This garment was a staple clothing item in Greece and the actual main period of time for the himation dress was during the Archaic through the Hellenistic period of 750-30 B.C.E. The himation dress was considered a wrap or a cloak and even a mantle. They were typically made out of heavy fabric like linen and wool and it was typically in the color white. To be more specific, the item of clothing consisted of long rectangular pieces of fabric arranged around the body in many different ways. However, it was most common for the himation to be placed in a diagonal manner on the body. As time had passed on and the Greek times became more sophisticated, the fabric for the himation started to change as well. This is when the himation dress started being made out of silk to add luxury to the clothing.

The garment was used by both men and women and it was used an an outer garment or a cloak. The cloak or himation, was typically also worn over a chiton. As this clothing was considered an outer garment, the himation was used for long journeys. Although there are no physical remains of what a himation looked liked, there is ancient pottery that has suggested that there was colors on them and those colors would vary. At times, the himation was simple and at others, it was dyed with bright colors and covered or bordered with intricate designs that were either woven into the fabric or painted on. For the women, the garment was mostly used over a peplos dress and only they could have their himation in a different color. Those colors could range from white to pink or red. When men would wear the himation, it was either on its own or over a chiton. Men typically wore them more than women and that was before the end of the Archaic Period, which was around 500 B.C.E. and after that, it was when it became something frequently worn by women. As it is shown in the above representational pictures of the himation dress, men’s himation dress wasn’t always full body covered and it reached their ankles. There was a specific reason for the men to have their himation reach their ankles. This was done because if it was dragging, that was considered having poor taste. Also, for a man’s himation dress, if the shoulder was bare, that was a sign of barbarism and in order to do it successfully, the men would have to carefully wrap it around their left shoulder. For women, the himation dress was full body covered and was at ground level. The women were more easy going with their himation dress and they didn’t put it on in a particular manner. When talking about the Greek himation dress and taking things into consideration, we must also think of Ancient Roman times. The reason for this is because we can try to compare them both. That is because the Greek Himation dress has similarities to the Roman Toga.

As you can see, the way the fabric is placed on their bodies suggest that they shared the same aspects of how their clothing should be worn. Of course, they are placed differently, but the similarities are equal.

I have above, pictures of the process of the himation dress being made and I had made the decision for this assignment to keep it simple because I didn’t want to ruin a traditional and historical piece of clothing and also because the men’s himation dress was exactly that simple and plain. All I really wanted was to keep it as authentic as possible. The himation I have chosen to recreate is made with a white muslin fabric and as in ancient times, it is made with large rectangular pieces. I have chosen to pin it all together by sewing the entire piece up by the left shoulder to keep the garment in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Saugat Adhikari. Ancient History Lists. http://www.ancienthistorylists.com/greek-history/top-10-famous-clothes-ancient-greece/. Accessed 9 September 2016

 

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/himation. Accessed 9 September 2016

 

Department of Greek and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. October 2003. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grdr/hd_grdr.htm. Accessed 9 September 2016

 

Encyclopedia of Fashion. Fashion Encyclopedia. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/The-Ancient-World-Greece/Himation.html. Accessed 9 September 2016.

 

Pauline Weston Thomas. Fashion-Era. 14 October 2008. http://www.fashion-era.com/ancient_costume/ancient-greek-dress-chiton.htm#The_Greek_Cloak,_Chlamys_or_Himation_.  Accessed 9 September 2016.

Unit 1 Assignment Topic

The object I have chosen to replicate is an Ancient Greek dress. The clothing between men and women in that time period consisted of chiton, peplos, himation, and chlamys. The clothing pieces divided up into two parts. The outfits consisted of  an undergarment that was primarily a chiton or peplos and a cloak that was an himation or chlamys. What’s interesting and very necessary for our assignment is that the chiton is based on using wide, rectangular tube of material. Below I have attached a couple of pictures for inspiration for the dress that I will be making.