Transcript History of Textiles

History of Textiles
Origins &
Shibori Dyeing
Origins of Textiles
• Wore animal skins =
protection, decoration
• Developed range of
materials for clothing/fabric:
– Animal skins
– Animal fibers (silkworm,
sheep, goat, camel, rabbit,
feathers)
– Plant fibers (cotton, jute,
yucca)
Origins of Fibers
• Linen: from Mesopotamia
• Flax fibers
• Earliest known old world
textile
– Turkey, 6500 BC
– Egypt: tomb wrappings
• Spread from this area into
Europe
Origins of Fibers
• Cotton: Indus River &
southern Mexico
• Cotton plants
• Found in tombs in India,
from 3000 BC
• Described in Hindu
hymns from 1400 BC
• Also made in early China
and pre-Inca Peru
Origins of Fibers
• Silk: Northern China
• Before 3000 BC
• Silkworms
• The Silk Road helped
spread trade of silk
from Asian East to
Europe in West
Origins of Fibers
• Wool: west Asia, 9000 BC
• Sheep (had to be
domesticated first)
• Made into fabric: Stone
Age, 1.75 million years
ago
• Usable woolen fabrics
developed in Iraq, around
1200 BC
Textile Production
• At home, by hand,
influenced by local
traditions
• Made what you needed,
sold what you didn’t need
• Craft Guilds:
– Formed around different
parts of textile production
– Set quality standards,
working methods
Textile Production
• Industrial
Revolution: changed
everything!
– 18th & 19th Centuries
– Mechanized
production for mass
market
Modern Fibers
• Cotton
• Linen
• Silk
• Wool/Angora/Alpaca
• Synthetic
– Examples: polyester, nylon, ramie
Textile/Fibers Art Forms
• Weaving/Tapestry
• Quilting
• Sewing
• Embroidery
• Felting
• Surface Design
– Printing
– Dyeing
Dyeing
• Stone Age: vegetable dyes
• Bronze Age: more complex processes
• Natural dyes:
– Plants: saffron, madder, weld, indigo
– Animals: mollusks, cochineal
• 19th Century: synthetic dyes developed
Shibori
• Since 8th Century CE
• Japanese form of shaped resist
dyeing
• Natural dyes (indigo)
• Manipulating 2-D cloth into 3D shapes before compressing
to dye
• Also found in other forms in
other countries
• Made into kimono, obi
Shibori
• Kanoko: wrapped & tied
Shibori
• Oboshi: small stitches pulled into
core and capped with plastic
Shibori
• Techniques we will use:
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Fold & clamp
Arashi (pole-wrapping)
Binding
Stitching