Vanessa, it is difficult to identify the indigo stitch resist without a photo. If you can send me one I will post it to the web. Having said that it is possible that the fabric could have been produced in a batik factory in Guizhou in Anshun. Such a factory - which I visited in 2000 and 2001 would be the Fuyuan Wax Printing Art Workshop. Their tel/fax is 0853 3461184. The owner does not speak English but a fax could be translated. Perhaps a scan of a piece of the fabric faxed to them might help. There are indigo factories in various places in China - today almost all will be using chemical indigo not natural. Back in 1990 I bought some material which sounds similar in the in-hotel shop at the Swan hotel in Guangdong. I do not know where the factory was located. In Hong Kong in a shop 'Mountain Crafts' at the end of Wo On lane off D'Aguillar St in Lan Kwai Fong, Central there is a shop which has had some. I don't know of a way to get natural indigo balls of paste sent from China. Most natural indigo is sold into local markets. In the UK Jenny Balfour-Paul would be a good person to ask (you probably know her excellent book 'Indigo' published by the British Museum Press). I don't have her contact details but she has offered workshops in dyeing with indigo - possibly she grows her own - although when I met her a couple of years ago at a British Museum book launch party she said that she was now trying to get away from indigo. She lives in the west country - see link.
http://www.robert-temple.com/oliviasFoo ... ndigo.html She might be reached via Gina Corrigan whose email I could give you as I know that they know each other and Jenny visited China with Gina. The Yunnan Nationalities Museum, Haigeng, Kunming 650228 (see early part of my 2000 diary of trip in China) has a very good museum shop with many textiles. They might be worth a try. That, at the moment is the best that I can do! (PS excellent architectural ornaments!) Pamela
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
