Textileseekers Workshops
WEAVING
Hemp is an essential plant, especially for the Hmong tribe in Sa Pa. The fibres from the hemp plant are woven to create a versatile fabric that the locals use to make clothing. The ability of the hemp fabric to be stitched in various ways, take up colour while achieving vibrancy, and last for years to come makes it a valuable material.
AN ORGANIC CULTIVATION
The cultivation of the hemp plants begins with burning grass and bush together. The ash from this process goes towards fertilising the soil. Hemp seeds from the last harvest will be sown into the ground.
Nothing goes to waste from the process, as the outer bark fibres of the old hemp plants are peeled into thin strips and the porous internal core is dried for use as cooking kindling.
THE ART OF WEAVING
It is common to see the Hmong people weaving as you walk around the villages in Sa Pa. This talented tribe has mastered the traditional technique of interlacing the threads, twisting the hemp, and crossing at different angles to produce fabrics of different patterns. The fibres are stripped off the hemp plants to spin the raw materials into spindles of thread, and then using antique shuttle looms, hands and peddles move rhythmically to create lengths of fabric. This remarkable craft almost mimics a dance that leaves the viewers spellbound.
The beauty of the fabrics is seen in the loom’s ability to interlace hundreds of warp threads to create different designs and motifs.
LABOUR OF LOVE
It is humbling to know that the locals make very few clothing pieces for themselves and families each year because it takes a long time to weave the fabrics. A belt will take two to three months to make, and a few sets of clothes can take up to a year to complete.
TRIBES WHO WEAVE
The weaving designs and patterns in Sa Pa are distinctly unique for every hill tribe and primarily originate from the traditional weaving techniques of the Hmong, the Ta Oi, and the Cham tribe. Their techniques have been passed through generations and have spread to other villages all over Vietnam.
Once the fabrics are woven, they are dyed into different colours and further embellished with patterns and motifs.
NATURAL DYEING IN SA PA
Colours are used to distinguish the different tribes in Sa Pa. The Hmong don darker colours and are famous for dyeing their fabrics with natural indigo dyes; while a smaller tribe like the Thai tribeswomen can produce some of the most vibrantly coloured fabrics in the region that truly pays tribute to the Thai tribe’s creativity.
COLOURS FROM NATURE
Most of the dye ingredients can be sourced from the gardens and fields of the tribe villages. From trees to roots and leaves, dyes can be acquired from plants such as lincabark, pung linh leaves, tea leaves, coffee leaves, phang tree, turmeric, guava leaves, jacknut, longan leaves, jack fruitwood, and lacant.
SOME COMMON PLANTS AND THE DYE COLOURS THEY PROVIDE ARE:
Peristrophe bivalvis, also known as “lá cẩm” in Vietnamese or “magenta leaves” is a natural purple dye that is also used for dyeing sticky rice.
Dioscorea cirrhosa, known as “dye yam” in English and ‘nhuộm củ nâu” in Vietnamese is a root plant that looks like a potato, giving a natural brown colour.
Strobilanthes cusia or Assam indigo, which is also known as “big leaf indigo” gives the trademark indigo blue dye in Sa Pa.
The tribes are able to locate rare plants like the Cay Nghiên tree, and some of these plants like the Coscinium fenestratum, not only produce a rare yellow dye, but are medicinal too and are used in Ayurveda and other parts of Asia. Other plants such as green tea leaves, coffee, gelsemiaceae flower, fibraurea recisa (yellow), sappanwood (orange).
STEP 1: BOILING AND LIFTING THE FABRIC
To dye fabric, it is first boiled for several minutes to be cleansed of substances, chemicals, or residual oil. Failure to soak the fabric will cause the colour to take but be less vibrant than desired. After soaking, the fabric is taken out and hung up.
STEP 2: BOILING THE DYE MATERIALS
While the fabric is still hanging, the selected plant parts, such as leaves, are milled and boiled in water to bring out the colour. The plant parts are usually boiled for about 5-10 minutes to effectively extract the colour. Afterwards, a clean fabric is used to filter the dye water twice.
STEP 3: DYEING THE FABRIC
To dye the fabric, the artisan soaks it in a bath containing the dye water for several hours. The longer and the more the fabric is dipped, the darker and richer the colour it will attain. Sometimes a natural fixative might be added to make sure the colour remains in the same hue and is absorbed by the fabric.
STEP 4: DRYING THE FABRIC
After dyeing, the fabric is washed and dried. During washing, it is normal for the fabric to lose some colour. After washing, the fabric is hung to dry out completely and then checked to see if the colour is vibrant enough.
INDIGO
The Hmong tribe is the tribe that has the most history in indigo dyeing. Being the oldest tribe in Sa Pa, the Hmong people have been dyeing their fabrics long before they settled down in the region. They believe that the colour of fabric donned by a person plays a major role in his or her life.
The following steps describe the stages of indigo dyeing:
STEP 1: INITIAL PREPARATION
Working with the indigo plant is very complicated and requires a lot of experience and time.
It takes about 8 to 9 months for the indigo plants to be fully cultivated and harvested in Sa Pa. The land has to be plowed before the planting begins. The process is timed for July or August when young seedlings are laid into the tilled soil; the harvest will be ready in April and May. During harvest, the best branches will be singled out to keep for the next cultivation cycle.
A specific variety of indigo plant known as Assam indigo, a.k.a. the big indigo leaf, is favoured by the Hmong. To make indigo dye, the leaves and stems will be bundled together, then used to create the famous indigo dye through a series of processes.
STEP 2: MAKE CONCENTRATED INDIGO
The leaves and stems are soaked in water for 3 days in a large wooden vat until the indigo resin dissolves. The indigo plants have to be fermented in vats until they react and change colour, before the dye can be made. After a few days, the water of the mixture changes colour by turning clear green, and the resin starts quietly bubbling, indicating the reaction is completed. The bundles of leaves and stems are removed and discarded. The leftover residue is then removed by adding a small quantity of limestone powder and the solution is stirred then plunged.
The plunging action activates the oxygenation process and helps the green water change further to blue. When the limestone mixture settles to the bottom of the vat, water has to be removed. The mixture is filtered through a thickly woven hemp fabric, where water flows away to produce a viscous glue-like substance, known as the dye concentrate. The dye concentrate can last for as long as a year.
STEP 3: INDIGO DYE VATS
The dye concentrate is then mixed with alcohol and slowly stirred until it begins bubbling. The addition of lime is done carefully and in precise quantities, because it can affect the colour of the indigo dye. The next step is to choose good quality hardwood for high-temperature burning to get the wood ash as well as boil the dye concentrate. Smaller stones are arranged atop larger stones for the vat of concentrated dye mixture to be placed securely on top and then a fire is ignited. Ash, which is considered worthless in many other cultures, is a crucial and valued element in the creation of indigo dye here in Sa Pa.
Mugwort, a local medicinal plant, is then mixed with the wood ashes and placed in a basket on top of the wooden vat containing the indigo concentrate. Pure spring water from a mountain gorge is added and filters through the basket of Mugwort and ash, before dripping into the indigo concentrate. The mixture is stirred twice a day then left to rest with the lid of the vat being covered up to protect the resting mixture.
After a few days, the indigo dye begins to emit a sweet fragrance that reminds one of the aroma of tea and eventually starts bubbling. The mixture has transformed into an alluring blue hue, indicating that the indigo is ready for dyeing.
Nature plays a big part in the creation of indigo dye and the Hmong tribe is very conscientious of this fact. The people know exactly what to do to concoct the perfect vat of indigo dye.
In the warm summer months, they will add more water to the mixture, so the indigo is kept fresh and will not dry out. In winter, when warmth is scarce, a stone will be placed in fire to absorb heat then placed in the middle of the vat to keep the dye mixture warm. Great care and devotion is given to each vat so as to yield the best indigo dye.
BATIK
Hemp is the fabric commonly used by the Hmong tribe for dyeing. A piece of hemp fabric is dipped in freshwater to soak for about an hour in a vat so it is cleansed thoroughly before being dyed. Then the patterns are drawn on the fabric using beeswax melted over coal fire and a special pen with a metal tip known as “tjanting.” This technique is called batik, which is another traditional craft preserved by the Hmong.
The fabric with the waxed drawing is then soaked in the dye and left to dry out in the sun with the beeswax acting as a protective layer to keep the artwork on the desired areas. The number of times the fabric is dipped depends on the goal of the artisan because the more times the fabric is dipped, the darker the colour of the fabric becomes.
Once the dyed fabric is ready, it will be hung outdoors, under a shaded area, to be air-dried. This will take anywhere from half a day to two days depending on the weather condition and the size of the fabric.
The Black Hmong tribe takes about 4 to 6 months to dye a fabric black while the Blue Hmong tribe takes 3 days to a month to dye a fabric blue. Each dye work is an intricate process and a labour of love. Infused within this exquisite shade of indigo blue is generations of knowledge as well as time-honoured practice and years of experience by each artisan.
HMONG EMBROIDERY
The Hmong hill tribe people are ancient mountain people who migrated from China during the 19th century because they were searching for freedom and a land to call their own. The word “Hmong” means “free” and its people came to Sa Pa to pursue freedom. You will find this spirit of freedom in the Hmong’s fabrics and designs.
IDENTITY AND TEXTILE
The Hmong people have always prided themselves on their exquisite needlework, rich embellishments, and colourful fabrics, standing out from the rest of the hill tribes. The techniques used in their textile-making include cross-stitching and needle weaving, as they produce clothing for the big and small events in life and even death, from New Year to births, marriages, and burials.
STORYTELLING WITH EMBROIDERY
The women from the Hmong tribe are in charge of making the garments and are the storytellers who translate history, traditions, and experiences through motifs on their fabrics, using expert embroidery skill that is one of a kind. It is an honor to observe these women deftly working on complicated reverse appliqué technique or during the making of “story cloth” known as "Paj Ntaub Tib Neeg”, where the embroidery is used to create different patterns and motifs with symbolic meanings, such as water lily, elephant foot (which symbolises family), dragon’s tail, mountains, and ram’s head, illustrating grand stories of the Hmong tribe’s migration from China to Sa Pa as well as their experiences during the Vietnam war and their escape to Thailand.
RED DAO EMBROIDERY
The Red Dao hill tribe has been noted to be the most creative and traditional of all the hill tribes in Sa Pa. The people place immense value in their culture and devote their creativity and effort to their fabrics.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TEXTILE SKILLS
A Red Dao woman is deemed unready and even undesirable for marriage until she has sewn her own clothes. After marriage, it is her duty to make a new set of clothes for her children and husband at the start of every New Year, before the arrival of the Tet holiday at the end of January.
The Red Dao tribespeople acquire cotton fabrics and silk threads from the other local hill tribes to use to make their traditional embroidery. This is one of the ways that the tribes foster relationships and dependence on each other.
EVERY STITCH COUNTS
To embroider, the artisan takes the silk threads and divides them into three strands. Then she twists them together between the skin of her knee and the palm of her hand. The stitches are then sewn in and out of the tightly woven weft and warp threads. Under the trained hands of the Red Dao tribeswomen, they can embroider symbolic motifs, beautiful patterns, and stunning images that portrays village life, from animals to rice terraces, stars to trees. This is how the Red Dao tribe uses embroidery to communicate and commemorate different events, distinguish social standings and personal abilities.
The talents of the Red Dao tribeswomen goes beyond simple embroidery technique. You will see that the women actually embroider from the reverse side of the fabric, where they count the threads to stitch over in the desired patterns. All the embroidery sequences are recalled from memory and took years of practice.
SILVER
Silver is also widely used in the traditions, customs, and rituals of the Red Dao tribe. It is customary for a Red Dao bride to receive silver jewellery from her husband’s family and wear them on her wedding day. These pieces of jewellery not only beautify the bride, but they also display her husband’s family wealth and their love for her.
ACCESSORISING WITH SILVER
Typically, the women from the Red Dao tribe wear long blouses over trousers, distinctive red triangular shaped turbans decorated with silver coins, and many red tassels. The men wear short shirts with long trousers, head-scarves, and a square piece of fabric on the back of their shirts showing that they are children of God.
The Red Dao tribe ascribes a lot of belief and much of their history in silver. The people are also well versed in working with silver. They artfully melt down the old French coins from the Indochina era to create unique jewellery, ornaments, and trinkets. These coins used to be a part of the Indochine currency between 1885 and 1952.
PREPARING THE MATERIALS
The first stage in silversmithing lies in selecting the material which will be used. The silversmiths in the Red Dao tribe use French coins, silver from the state bank or silver bars bought from other hill tribes. The artisan then selects his tools which will depend on the sort of ornament he wishes to design. The tools used are bellows, molds, pliers, silver-fiber making devices, iron anvils, scissors, silver-baking stoves, and carving knives.
HEATING, BENDING, DESIGNING
The selection of the silver material will determine the tools which the artisan will use. For rings, the artisan usually lightly taps the coin all around before hollowing out the middle with a chisel and fitting it to the desired size. Other designs and textures are all engraved by hand, using hammer and chisels. Each chisel is used to make a different texture.
For complicated ornaments, the silver bars are melted in stoves. Once molten and slightly cooled, the silver is hammered into the desired shape using the anvils, then carried with the pliers to be cooled.
The design of each piece of jewellery usually takes an artisan about 2 to 6 hours to create, depending on the level of sophistication.
IMPERIAL SIGNIFICANCE
Over the years, the Red Dao tribe has passed on the silversmith techniques to many other tribes such as the Muong Hum, who to this day still use the Red Dao technique to make silver jewellery. Even the world-renowned village of Ke Mon, in the Hue Imperial City in northern Vietnam also uses this ancient Red Dao silversmithing techniques to create its jewellery both within and outside Vietnam. This shows how influential and revered the Red Dao silversmith expertise is.