What is Xiangyun yarn?
Xiangyun yarn is a silk fabric. The precise definition is:
Original color gambiered canton silk:
Using pure mulberry silk fabric as raw material, after soaking in potato juice for many times, it is processed by traditional handicrafts such as river mud and drying to form a fabric with a black shiny surface and a coffee-colored bottom surface.
Multicolour gambiered canton silk:
Fabrics processed by printing and dyeing on the basis of primary color silk; Or fabrics that are first printed and dyed and then processed by traditional handicrafts.
In the original traditional craftsmanship, Xiangyun yarn only refers to yarn, that is, a saro tissue fabric with twisted eyes and flowers woven by a jacquard hand-pulled machine, which was made by the sun-dried yarn process, initially called "Xiangyunsha", and later called "Xiangyun yarn" with its homophonic beauty;
Later, the plain weave tissue silk woven by the plain weave hand pull machine was used as the blank silk, and the innovative products made by the drying process were also classified as Xiangyun yarn, commonly known as "yarn" and "vinyl";
In the 70s of the 20th century, electric spinning, fine flower silk and other varieties were also used to dry silk, and at the end of the 90s, it was expanded to double wave satin, printed silk, etc.;
The national standard has set a unified name for these silk sun-dried yarn products "yarn", so the scientific name of Xiangyun yarn is "yarn", and the national standard of "Xiangyun yarn" originally planned was finally set as the national standard of "yarn".
Printing and dyeing Xiangyun yarn is a yarn product made by using the juice of potatoes and dioscivature, the mulberry silk fabric is impregnated, boiled and colored, and then covered with river mud containing high-valent iron ions (commonly known as "river mud") unique to Shunde, Nanhai, Sanshui, Foshan and other places in Guangdong, and processed by sun exposure. That is, the so-called "three washes, nine boils and eighteen drying". It is the only silk fabric in the world dyed with pure plants, so it is very rare and has the reputation of "soft gold" in the textile world.
The plant dye Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour. is recorded in the Tang Dynasty, and the dyeing effect of the potato shrimp was described by Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty and Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty.
In 2008, Xiangyun yarn dyeing and finishing technology entered the second batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage; In 2011, Xiangyun yarn was protected by the national "geographical indication product", which stipulates that the production area of Xiangyun yarn is the administrative area of Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province. Lunjiao, Rongqi, Leliu, and Chencun in Shunde, Yanbu and Xiqiao in the South China Sea are the source areas.
The color of the yarn
The main colors of traditional Xiangyun yarn are "black" and "yellow", one side shows different shades or yellowish or reddish brown "yellow" color, the other side will show yellow or reddish brown "black"!
Due to the different batches of plant dyes, as well as the differences in environment, temperature and humidity and other factors, and the difficulty of manual dividing and unification, the color of each batch of dyed cloth will be different, and the phenomenon of multiple colors of one cloth is also very common.
Monochrome Xiangyun yarn to single color silk as a blank silk, dyeing by Xiangyun yarn dyeing process, will present a black side of color, the original color is covered with a layer of black, yellow, brightness and purity are reduced, hue to brown-yellow transition, become dignified and restrained, if combined with modern washing technology can also highlight the weaving texture, appear before long-wearing washing after the crack effect, black dye layer with cracks to varying degrees of shedding, on the surface of the fabric formed like batik cracks like color layers, The colors of the front and back influence each other, black in color, black in color, very layered, the color of the fabric shows the traces of years carving. Monochrome Xiangyun yarn also has monochrome jacquard yarn and other types of fabrics made of colored jacquard gray yarn, with uniform colors and rich colors.
Printed Xiangyun yarn is made of silk printed with flowers and dyed with the traditional process of Xiangyun yarn. Like the monochrome Xiangyun yarn, the brightness, purity and hue of the printed color have changed, covering the unique black and yellow tones of Xiangyun yarn, which is also oily black on one side and brownish yellow on the other. The color is subtle and deep, the freehand is hazy, especially the printing of Chinese painting materials, the finished product is like an old silk landscape painting, antique and light, forming a unique effect, with a strong traditional Chinese cultural atmosphere.
Xiangyun yarn taking performance and washing
Xiangyun yarn double-sided heterochromatic, light texture, soft and smooth non-sticky, sweat and breathable, not easy to wrinkle, wear resistance. However, the deformation ability and tear resistance are poor
In terms of washing and maintenance, the professional advice from the manufacturer is as follows:
1: Can be dry cleaned, can also be gently hand washed, never machine washed, dehydrated, dried, exposed to the sun.
2: When hand washing, it is best to wash with clean water, the water temperature is below 30 degrees, first soak for 5-10 minutes, gently rub on the reverse side, pat and take out in a cool place to dry.
3: You can use special silk detergent, but not alkaline laundry detergent or soap. Dissolve the lotion in water and soak it in clothes for 5-10 minutes to wash gently. Do not rub the lotion directly on the surface of the laundry to wash the flowers with rabbits.
4: The black color of Xiangyun yarn is potato puree, so there will be a certain degree of color loss when washing, pay attention to the different shades of the fabric when entering the water, otherwise it will match the color
Bibliography:
Liu Yiming's "The Dispute over Xiangyun Yarn" Final Judgment - Traditional Xiangyun Yarn Does Not Cover Silk, but Integrity Innovation is Conducive to Inheritance and Development(Guangzhou Daily, 2023/4/27);
LIAO Fei, JIANG Zunguo, GUAN Hong, LIAO Xuelin, "Xiangyun Yarn Origin Examination" (Journal of Foshan Institute of Science and Technology: Humanities and Social Sciences Edition, Issue 4, 2011)
Yang Ting, "Research on the Color of Xiangyun Yarn" (Tsinghua University)
Li Weixian, Shi Yanming, Luo Meixiang, "Performance characteristics of Xiangyun yarn" (Journal of Donghua University, August 2008)