Just like it sounds, a hand-dyed robe has been dyed by hand, not by an industrial process in a factory. Even so, this can still encompass a wide range of processes, materials, and quality levels.
We’ll unpack some of that range, including a focus on the materials we work with currently: hand-stamped cotton batik, yarn-dyed plant-dyed cotton, and naturally tie-dyed cotton and linen.
How does hand dyeing actually work? Many different processes fall under the umbrella of hand-dyeing.
For our yarn-dyed woven cotton robes, the skeins of yarn are naturally hand-dyed, and then woven into the final fabric. With this process, beautiful gradients can be achieved if only certain parts of the skeins are dip-dyed. Stunning variations can be seen once the yarn has been woven into fabric.
Our artisans also work with a hand tie-dyeing process, where colorless fabric is bound, clipped, folded, rolled, or sewn into different shapes and then dyed, then immersed in a natural dye bath. When the fabric is released, there is a pattern that was left depending on how the fabric was held before the dye process.
Many batiks are handmade, including hand-drawn batik (batik tulis), a centuries-old traditional wax-resist process where artisans use a small pen called a chanting to draw a pattern onto the fabric with wax. Hand-stamped batik (batik cap) is another traditional process where a copper stamp is made by hand, and later dipped in wax before stamping the pattern onto the fabric. In both cases, the fabric is dyed after the pattern has been applied, often many times, and often wax is reapplied and the fabric dyed another color, to add dimensionality and richness to the motif.
Other hand dyeing processes can include dip-dyeing, hand painting, and many others.
Natural dyes vs. synthetic dyes? Just because something is dyed by hand, doesn’t necessarily mean that it has been naturally dyed. Many traditional printing processes still use synthetic dyes.
However, natural dyes use pigments from woods, leaves, minerals, and sometimes insects to achieve an astonishing variety of colors. Indigo from the leaves of the indigofera plant. Yellow from mango leaf or turmeric. Dusty rose from sappan wood. Brown from mahogany bark or almond leaf husk. In our naturally dyed textiles, just five plants are used in different concentrations and combinations to make up an extraordinary range of different colors.
Our dye house in Bali has land where dye plants are grown specifically for use as pigments, but also from time to time, neighbors sometimes drop by saying they have dye plants leftover from landscaping projects that can be processed and used.
The benefit of synthetic dyes is that they are formulated to be much more vivid, long-lasting, and consistent. However, there can be an environmental and health toll to using synthetic dyes, especially if the dyes stain the workers’ skin, or the wastewater is poured into the ground or a river, contaminating groundwater.
Why do hand-dyed robes cost more? Hand-dyed fabric is more expensive than fabric that has been treated in a factory or by a machine as it requires more human labor. Depending on the actual process required to achieve each particular fabric, this can vary considerably. Hand-painting or hand-stamping a pattern onto the robe can require a lot of time and precision from a skilled artisan.
Naturally hand-dyed fabrics require growing, harvesting, and processing of plants and sometimes minerals and insects. This can be incredibly labor intensive. It often involves chopping the plant matter down to small pieces, heating it over a fire, and fermenting the dye vat before use. Often fabrics will need to be dyed multiple times to achieve the right vibrancy.
How to care for a hand dyed textile? We recommend hand washing your hand-dyed textiles to preserve vibrancy, whether they are naturally or synthetically dyed.
For our naturally dyed textiles, care is an essential part of ensuring its longevity. Please go into your relationship with the textile knowing that it is part of their life cycle to evolve and change over time. For these fabrics in particular, thoughtful care is essential.
We highly recommend hand washing with gentle detergent separately for the first few washes, and hang dry in the shade. Direct sunlight will fade any dye over time. It’s wise to expect dye release or transfer, especially at the beginning.
An indigo robe will get softer and more nuanced with age. Please expect it to change and evolve over time, to develop its own character.
Who made it? The best hand dyed textiles come from dyers with real skill and experience, often working within dyeing traditions that have been refined over generations. Artisan dyers in Indonesia, India, Japan, and West Africa have been working with natural dyes for centuries, and these processes and the tools used for them have evolved uniquely within each cultural context. That depth of traditional ancestral knowledge produces results that a weekend workshop can't match.
Hand and Ember’s natural dye collection of robes are hand dyed with natural plant dyes — indigo, mango leaf, sappan wood, mahogany bark — by artisan dyers in Indonesia. Each piece is dipped multiple times to build depth of color, cut and sewn from cotton, and made in small batches.
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