ISLAND OF GODS’ NATURAL COLORS

Dear Friends, Fellow Art and Color Lovers,

This episode, I am bringing you with me to…. BALI!!!

Bali is a non-stop firework of colors from all sides, a manifestation of its abundant flora, fauna or local crafts. And I am not even mentioning the scents and flavors that add layers to these gorgeous hues.

Indonesia has such a rich cultural background in terms of textiles and luckily, there are many traditions still alive in just Bali itself.

While I love the idea of full depth diving into the fascinating symbolic of colors for Balinese’s (although I hope to immerse us in this in one of the upcoming chapters of this newsletter!) or the vast history of their textiles, I had the pleasure to focus this time on the natural dyes and pigments mostly used in Bali’s traditional crafts and dye with these! I also tried my hands to Batik while at it!

Some local artisans have been struggling to obtain natural pigments as they become less and less available and more costly compared to synthetic dyes. Still, many craftsmen push to maintain their natural dye usage compared to petroleum chemical ones. Some even grow the necessary plants for coloring their crafts within their own studio premisses to counter the growing scarcity of natural dyestuff and be able to avoid their high sourcing costs.

My exploration this time was on the specific colors mostly used for Balinese traditional crafts and experiment with them as well in my own way.

So let’s dive in, full bath!!

HERITAGE CRAFTS’ DYESTUFF PALETTE

JACKFRUIT TREE

The heart of the tree was used to dye. It requires many dips and baths to obtain a golden color. About 10 dips create a warm pastel yellow on cotton. It comes out a bit more mustard color on wool fibers.

Yellows I develop in the studio are usually a bit more green or leaning towards soft orange. So this dye has opened up the possibilities of my classic yellow palette. It is also a bit more of a versatile yellow especially depending on which fiber takes the dye.

MANGROVE TREE

Ceriops tagal grows into the mangrove tree.

Used couple thousand years ago, the waste extract from bark comes from the Papua Nugini.

It is boiled until reduced to extract. Usually it comes in bark as waste (yes, waste!).

This bath was very potent color-wise. And the radiant oranges coming from it were all stunning. I made several depths of saturation samples. This orange on the picture is 12 dips in the vat. It is a great dyestuff to use to layer some warm golden layer over duller fabrics to visually re-energize them.

RICE FIELD MUD

Iron peroxide comes from the rice field mud, collected 20cm under the surface. It must be an active rice field used for farming for fermenting purposes (wheat activated).

Black is usually made from red+blue but in this case it is the usage of a tannin (softer brown) plus the activation of the iron peroxide that creates black.

I had not dyed with mud before. And it is so enjoyable. At first it feels very messy, but then you enjoy the feel of it on your skin and I’ll say it, you wish you could roll yourself in it almost. The dyestuff is not very potent so requires many baths to obtain a 20% grey. Imagine the number of baths to obtain a black. This brought me back to the lengthy exploration on The Colorful Blacks from a few months back!

INDIGO

This specific kind is an annual species, Strobilanthes cusia. (Assam Digo). Used in northeast Asia and the Himalaya, it is now grown by several commercial dyers in Indonesia.

The range of blues that this indigo offers is fascinating. The blues I create are made from flower waste and tend to be more inky looking. My favorite part of working with indigo is witnessing the oxidizing from aqua/turquoise blue to cobalt. It could be a show in itself

INDIGO BATIK

Batik’s common colors are blue of indigo, yellow, red and a Brown called Soga.

Each region in Indonesia has its own distinctive batik motifs and patterns. The Parang motif (describes the waves in the sea south of Yogyakarta hitting the cliffs) is one of the most popular and oldest batik motifs in Indonesia since the Mataram Kingdom era.

I tested my drawing skills with the wax and a free-flow movement came through, far from the traditional Parang. Mastering the canting (tool used to apply liquid wax) take about 10 years, and I could see why!

Batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique applied once the drawing is finished. Then the fabric is dipped in boiling water to melt the wax revealing negative parts that will be white (except if over-dyed later)

It has been very fun to dye with these colors knowing already what hues I would achieve, instead of my regular experimental studio process from my food or flower waste. I also usually mostly create pattern and print effects in my work, so with these processes to achieve solid colors I have played with layering the different hues.

But I will stop here. Yes! These are a little teaser of the upcoming “Bali Colors collection” of artworks that I am so excited to share with you when I’ll come back to the studio and have them shaped up.

So stay tuned. I hope you enjoyed this process and color drop in your mailbox and I can’t wait to share more soon.

Also. let me mention, I have loved all your feedback from the last newsletter’s episode, so please do not hesitate to share more of your impressions and questions! It is a joy to hear from you.

Until I see you again in person, live fully in HD colors!

Colorfully,

Caroline

INTERESTING COLOR UPDATES

The color forecasting giants have spoken: Oranges are Colors of the Year 2024! From participating in Coloro ‘Apricot Crush’ push already in 2023 (Learn more here!) to hearing about Pantone’s own selection Peach Fuzz last December (more here!),

I can tell you, this year is promised to be saturated with a big wave of warmth hues from pastels to terracotta versions. And I have seen lots during my trip these past months too. Take a look and don’t forget to share your thoughts!

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If you haven’t yet, check my recent featured in the "Women United Art Magazine, Summer 2023" alongside an exclusive interview talking about womens’ role in art.

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