The pattern on the fabric can be formed by dyeing and then weaving, that is, the fiber is colored first, and then weaving. However, in the Yin and Zhou era, when weaving technology was not yet developed, they did not have the technology to weave fabrics with complex patterns. At that time, only hand-painted methods were used to apply pigments on the fabrics. Later, people invented the stencil printing and dyeing technology. Because the printing technology is simple and practical, the printing cost is low, and the printing speed is fast, it is very popular once it appears. Even in the Qin and Han Dynasties, when weaving technology had made breakthroughs and had the skills to weave various complex patterns, printing technology did not stagnate, but was still developing rapidly, and even became an indispensable part of textile technology. The main popular printing methods in ancient times include painting, letterpress printing, clip (xie association), twist, wax and so on.

Painting

Painting is a coloring method commonly used in Yinzhou and Zhou Dynasties. The painting method is used to paint evenly mixed pigments or dye solutions on the fabric to form patterns. According to documentary records, nobles at that time liked to wear painting costumes, and used different painting patterns to represent social status. For example, in the costumes of the emperors of the Zhou Dynasty, there is a painting with sun, moon, stars, mountains, dragons, flowers (flowers), insects, algae (water plants), fire, rice flour, black (axe-shaped pattern), and black (symmetrical geometric patterns). 12 patterned painting clothes. The 12 patterns are ranked according to their ranks, with the sun and the moon being the most noble. From the emperor to the officials at all levels, they are adopted according to their status and official position.

Judging from the unearthed Western Zhou silk and embroidery fabrics, the patterns chosen by the nobles are complex and rich in colors. The pattern is not simply drawn on the fabric, but a more complicated process is used, that is, the fabric is first dip-dyed into one color with a dye, then embroidered with another color thread, and then painted with mineral pigments. The painting method was quickly replaced by printing technology due to time-consuming and poor color fastness. However, because the dyed fabric has a different style from other dyeing methods, it is still loved by people, so there has been a small amount of production in the past dynasties. In the early Qing Dynasty, a large number of hand-painted fabrics began to be exported to Europe, and the number increased year by year, which promoted the development of the European dyeing and weaving industry to a certain extent.

Embossed printing

The embossing printing method is not complicated. It is to dig out a pre-designed pattern on a flat and smooth wooden board or other similar materials, and then paint the color on the raised part of the pattern, and then align the pattern by pressing the printing method. , Pressing on the fabric, you can print the pattern pattern on the fabric. In fact, in daily life, stamping with a stamp is the simplest kind of embossed printing. The embossing printing technology has reached a very high level in the Western Han Dynasty. The printed colored yarn and gold-silver printed yarn unearthed at Mawangdui in Changsha were made by a combination of embossed printing and painting.

The printed colored yarn is first printed with a relief pattern to print the flower branches, and then processed in white, vermilion, gray blue, yellow, black and other colors to depict the flowers, stamens, leaves and buds. The surface of colorful yarn, hand-painted flowers, lively and smooth, meticulous, convex printing, clear and lively, smooth and powerful lines, with few discontinuities. The whole fabric has a thick color and strong three-dimensional effect, which fully reflects the effect of embossed printing.

The gold and silver printed yarn is processed by three-step overprinting with three embossed plates, that is, the network skeleton is first printed in silver white, then the pattern composed of silver-gray curves is overprinted in the network, and then the golden dots are overprinted. On the whole, the silver lines are smooth and straight, there are no broken lines at the intersections, no splashes and seepage defects. Although the positioning is not very accurate in some places, the overlap between the prints and the unevenness of the gaps are caused. But it still reflects the proficiency of overprinting techniques at that time.

The printing process of letterpress is simple and can adapt to cotton, linen, wool and other fibers. Therefore, it has always been the main printing method for clothing and binding in the past dynasties. Embossed printing is also very common in minority areas in my country, and the application skills are relatively skilled. For example, the wooden stamp printing and wooden roller printing created by the Xinjiang Uygur people in the Qing Dynasty are very distinctive. The area of ​​the wooden stamp is not large, and it can be used for partial or various small and medium-sized decorative patterns; the wooden roller printing is suitable for large-scale decorative patterns because it is printed with round wood with carved patterns.

Clipped

The clip is actually a hollow version of the printing. It uses two engraved patterns with the same pattern, folds the cloth in half and clamps it tightly between the two plates, and then paints dye or color paste on the hollow. Excluding the hollow version, the symmetrical pattern can be displayed. Sometimes multiple hollow plates are used and re-dyed in two or three colors. Clipping began in the Qin and Han dynasties, and has become popular since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. There are many relics of valerian products in the Tang Dynasty, such as the Tang Dynasty valerian tree-to-bird screen, the valerian landscape screen, the valerian grass screen, and the patterned valerian leaf screens, etc., preserved in the Masakura Garden of Japan.

From these colorful clip valerian products, it can be seen that the clip valerian process was quite exquisite. Since the valerian process is most suitable for cotton and hemp fibers, its products have clear patterns and are durable, so since the Tang Dynasty, it has not only been the most widely used printing method, but also has continued to develop. For example, since the Song Dynasty, the hollow printing plate gradually changed to tung oil coated bamboo paper instead of the previous wood board. Rubber powder was added to the dye solution to prevent the dye solution from permeating and the pattern was blurred. In addition, gold printing, tracing, and pasting were added. Among the textiles unearthed from the tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty, many robes are inlaid with colorful, glittering gold and clear patterns.

Twisted

Valerian, also known as Valerian or Zhavaler. The tying method is roughly divided into three categories: the first is to design a pattern on the fabric to be dyed in advance, use a thread to stitch and tighten the fabric along the edge of the pattern, and then take the fabric where the pattern is located, and tie it with a thread. Various types of small twists can also use grains as cushions and tie them in the fabric to form a circle-dyeing caviar-shaped scattered pattern. The second is to fold the fabric cleverly, and then tie it up with symmetrical geometric small plates. In the third type, the silk is folded in the warp direction or diagonally, and the fabric itself is tied tightly or tied with a rope at different positions. After the dyeing, the thread was removed, and the knotted part showed a pattern with insufficient coloring because the dye did not penetrate or penetrated insufficiently.

The twisted valerian pattern has a soft tone, and the edges are infiltrated by the dye solution, naturally forming dark to light color halos, making the fabric look rich in layers. In the northwest minority areas, there is a warp dyeing process. It is the color requirement of the pattern. Tie the non-colored parts of the warp yarn with water-repellent materials and put them in the dye solution for soaking. It can be bundled multiple times and over-dyeed multiple times to obtain a variety of colors. After dyeing, after unraveling the warp and aligning the flowers, re-organize and weave, you can get a fabric with rich colors and hazy outlines. The modern Uygur and Kazakh people’s favorite silks like Shilubu and Adlissi were woven by this process.

Wax valerian

Wax valerian, namely batik. The traditional batik method: first heat the beeswax to melt, and then use a three to four inch bamboo pen or a wax knife made of copper sheet to dip the wax liquid to draw various patterns on the fabric. After the wax is condensed, the fabric is dyed in the dye liquor, and the wax is boiled in boiling water. Where there is wax, the wax prevents the dye solution from immersing and is not colored and appears white. Due to the shrinkage of the wax after condensation and the crease of the fabric, many cracks are often produced on the wax film, and the dye solution penetrates into the cracks, and the finished product will have the effect of ice cracks. Although ancient batik was mainly dyed with indigo, three or more colors were also used. When multi-color dyeing, considering the mutual infiltration of different colors, the pattern design is relatively large, so its products are generally used for large-scale decorative fabrics such as tents and curtains. To

According to research, my country's batik process originated from ethnic minorities in the southwest region, and gradually became popular in the Central Plains during the Qin and Han dynasties. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, batik technology developed rapidly. It can not only dye silk fabrics, but also fabrics. In addition to single-color scattered small flowers, there are also many colorful flowers. There are several pieces of wax valerian from the Tang Dynasty collected by Masakura-in Japan, among which "wax valerian pattern screen" and "wax valerian sheep pattern screen" are rare works. In the Song Dynasty, batik was gradually replaced by other printing techniques because it was only suitable for dyeing at room temperature and the color spectrum had certain limitations. However, batik products have been popular in the southwestern Miao, Yao, Buyi and other ethnic minority areas in my country.

Alkali printing

Alkaline printing is an anti-dyeing or discharge printing method that uses alkaline substances to dissolve sericin and resist dyes to certain dyes. It first appeared in the Tang Dynasty in my country. The specific method adopted was to use strong alkaline substances such as plant ash or lime to prepare printing paste and apply it to the raw silk, so that the raw silk at the patterned part was expanded and degummed. The dark ground color is rich in ripe silk luster patterns. Or on this basis, it can be dyed again, and the difference in the coloring rate of raw silk and cooked silk in the dyeing solution is used to form shades of different shades. There are many alkali printed fabrics in the Tang Dynasty silk fabrics unearthed in Xinjiang, such as the "white tufted pattern yarn" unearthed in Dunhuang and the "primary color ground printed yarn" unearthed in Turpan. The pattern is loose, rich in mercerization, and the ground color is tight. , The color is darker. According to the analysis, the original color raw silk is used as the ground, and the local raw silk is degummed to develop the flower. Another "Crimson-white floral yarn" unearthed at the same time in Turpan is made with alkali printing first, followed by safflower dyeing. It is made by the process of dyeing red in the liquid (because the pattern part is printed with alkali paste, safflor can not be dyed, so it can show white flowers)

In the Song Dynasty, there was a very famous alkaline printing product "medical patch cloth" used for bed sheets and mosquito nets. The alkaline printing paste was prepared with lime and soybean flour. This paste was in a colloidal form, which was not only good for painting and painting. Anti-dyeing is also conducive to washing off and scraping off. The effect it produces is exactly the same as the anti-dyeing effect of wax.