The Benibana Museum (The Safflower Museum)
10. Variety of Dyeing Materials (染料の種類)
There are two kinds of dyeing materials: one is natural and the other is chemical. The latter was invented in 19th century and it was imported at the end of Edo period and also called aniline dyes. That invention was an epoch-making, because its treating was easy and had many ranges of colors. Soon it made benibana dyes vanished. But the deep tone of color of benibana dyes is lingering, and the long and traditional technique of benibana dyeing has been recognized by the benibana loving people.
Plants dyes are typed into two: one is the plant itself to produce colors, the other is made after various processing. The colors are producted from leaves, stems, trunks, peels, flowers, seeds and roots. The color pigments are both direct dyes and mordant dyes.
A Piece of Cloth
