Masaru Hori is a skilled expert who has been dyeing for over 60 years. It was in 2020 that we did a three-part interview with Hori-sensei, in which he talked about the work he had done in the Dyeing Department at Kawashima Ltd., his experience teaching as a full-time instructor for over 20 years at Kawashima Textile School after retirement, and about his thoughts now being over 80 years old. After it was published, we received a wide response from Hori-sensei’s students, and people interested in dyeing, both from Japan and from overseas. We feel that Hori-sensei not only has a wealth of experience and reliable skills, but also “something important” in how he teaches. That is not something that can be spoken by himself, but something that he exudes. In this series, we will cover Hori-sensei’s dyeing classes, and seek out what that something is. This first part is about the “Creating Dyeing Data” class.
Hori-sensei always speaks about the necessity of having data samples. “I want the students to achieve the skills to be able to dye by themselves at home, and continue dyeing, since they came all the way to study here.” This is his basic idea. ”You can get dye samples of single colors at dyeing stores, but there are no samples of mixed colors. Your range of dyeing will broaden by making colors that are not available for purchase. By having the data with you, you will be motivated to dye by yourself. It is important to develop that feeling.” He has continued to conduct his classes on creating data samples with that in mind.
In the first year students’ classes, students learn the basics of dyeing, and at the same time make data samples. Synthetic dyes allow you to create the color you want, as opposed to natural dyeing, where there is a limit in the colors that can be created. In class, students learn the characteristics of both synthetic dyes and natural dyes through making data samples. The students first make synthetic dye data samples. They make over 100 colors of samples using wool, silk, cotton, and polyester yarn, and the synthetic dyes for each type of yarn. They also learn how to create data for color gradients by dyeing from light, neutral, dark, and extremely dark.
Hori-sensei says, “You will be able to do the work yourself, once you get used to it. However, I pay particular attention to the students during steps where mistakes should not be made. Above all, with synthetic dyeing, in which dyes are mixed to create a certain color, confirming the numerical values is important. For light colors, the amount of dye could be less than the smallest unit on a commercial digital scale. Therefore, for example, when measuring the unit of 0.001, the dyestuff is dissolved in boiling water to make a 1000 fold dilution. Both measuring and blending require cautiousness and accuracy. He gives students tips on the spot, such as how to use their fingers when dropping dyestuff from a spoon onto the scale, or how to use the graduated cylinder or pipette, saying, “like this.” “If the data is non-reproducible, it is better not to have it at all. To prevent that, the most important thing is to measure accurately.”
Currently at the school, there are approximately 150 colors of data samples for each type of yarn (June 2021). There are some new colors, and sometimes they are born from mistakes. “If you make a mistake in the digit when measuring dyes, it becomes a completely different color. However, if we can confirm what the mistake was, we include that as a new color in the group of samples.” Measurement must be precise, but on the other hand, saying that “mistakes in dyeing are inherent,” and creating a way to make use of them could be Hori-sensei’s ingenuity. He says, “I want them to have fun when working on dyeing.”
Hori-sensei quietly showed me the color palette he made when he first started teaching at the school. To make the data samples from scratch, he thought he “wanted at least 100 colors,” and “first made this color palette and organized it into a chart for each color tone, and test dyed each color, and created the data.” Hori-sensei was assigned to Kawashima Textile School when he was 60 years old, after working at the Dyeing Department of Kawashima Textile Manufacturers Ltd. (now Kawashima Selkon Textile Co., Ltd.) for 42 years. He took the long view of what to convey from the position of dyeing himself to the position of teaching, and what the school needs, and first organized the data samples, and laid the foundation for what dyeing at Kawashima Textile School is today. The handmade color palette that started it all is still carefully kept in the hands of Hori-sensei, without fading even after 20 years.
After finishing the four "Creating Dyeing Data" classes, Hori-sensei said, “I want you to use the data you made effectively. It can be used not only for yarn dyeing, but applied to dyeing the fabric around you as well." How they will be utilized is left to each student’s will.
Continued to part 2.
