Buyi Native Cloth
Buyi minority, one of the 49 tribes that inhabited the southwest province of Guizhou, China 3000 years ago, has a reputation for hand-weaving skills. They used to make the fabrics for self-sufficient use and trade to other tribes. The diversity of the fabric types in terms of patterns and weaving texture reveals their wisdom and laborious traditional virtue.
Color and motif origins
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The fabric motif features a balance between nature and image objects through highly generalized, simplify and exaggerated approaches. This method practiced by the Buyi ethics helps to emphasize the beauty and vivid of the original nature objects.
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The color layout usually follows the rule of affluent the white and black color by applying dynamic color shades. Their elaborated color and motif design approach reveals the Buyi tribes’ naturally reserved tradition character.
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Fishbone pattern
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Fish scales pattern
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Lany pattern (deconstruction from dragon totem)
Dong cloth
Dong cloth gradually developed into a genre with the comprehensive and well-established craft skills in knitting, weaving, dying, and embroidery, becoming an important part of traditional ethnic textile in the West South China. Dong fabric appears in every part of native people life, fulfill their wish to an affluent lifestyle with its functionality and esthetics.
The dedicated making process
Dong fabrics are made from the local natural plant grown in the Dong villages. Each piece of the ready made fabrics need to be dyed and beaten several times after the spinning and weaving process. Indigo, White wine, leather skin source, and egg white more or less play their port in the dyeing formula.
Four steps
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Spinning
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Weaving
Workshop clip -
Dyeing
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Steaming and Beating
