Red홍화 safflower & 소목 sappanwood

FIELD NOTE 01 · SUMMER · THREE VISITS

Three days in the dye yard, June to August. Not a write-up — just what I kept between the bowls. Mostly things my hands figured out before my head did.

I.SAT 28 JUNEsafflower field · hot, no wind

Safflower plant with yellow, orange and red flowers on the same stem — fig. 1 — yellow → orange → red, all on one plant

Picking starts early, before the heat. Only the petals that have already turned orange-red — pinch the tuft, pull, leave the head to keep flowering.

the bracts are spiny. they go straight through gloves. nobody mentioned this.

Pickers in straw hats working along rows of safflower — fig. 2 — picking

Rows of us in straw hats. Nobody talks much — you find a pace and stay in it.

basket at the hip, one hand steadies the
stem, the other pulls.
too early → only yellow. too late →
dry, brittle.

Kneading a cloth bag of safflower petals in a basin of water — fig. 3 — washing out the yellow

Petals into a cloth bag, kneaded in water. The water goes yellow-orange first. That isn't the colour we want — wash, change the water, wash again, until it runs clearer.

knead → squeeze → new water
× many. lost count.

Pressing safflower petals into small cakes by hand — fig. 4 — pressing 홍화병, little cakes to dry & keep

What's left gets pressed by hand into flat little cakes, 홍화병, and laid out to dry. Like this the red can wait for weeks.

hands orange for three days. not red — orange. the red is still hiding in there.

Four pairs of hands working pink cloth in one steel basin — fig. 5 — one basin, four people

No one counts minutes. They look at the cloth, then at each other, and someone says "조금 더." A little more.

Q — how do they all agree when it's "enough"? ask next time.

Rows of pink safflower-dyed cloth hanging on lines outdoors — fig. 6 — end of the day

Out on the line the pink looked almost electric. I didn't know a flower could do this.

II.FRI 11 JULYindoor workshop · steel bowls, lots of steam

Wetting white cloth in a steel sink before dyeing — fig. 7 — wetting out

Before any colour: wet everything out. Cloth that isn't evenly wet takes the dye unevenly, and you only see it later — as clouds.

patience is a step. it's in the recipe, it's just not written down.

Lifting a skein of thread on a steel rod over a bowl — fig. 8 — skeins on the rod

Skeins hung over a steel rod — lifted, turned, lowered, again. The rhythm matters more than the strength.

lift → air → back in.
don't let it sit folded.
squeeze, don't wring.

Straining boiled sappanwood chips into a steel basin — fig. 9 — 소목 chips, boiled & strained

Sappanwood this time. Chips boiled, then strained — the bath comes out the colour of wine.

the steam smells like wood and something sweet. glasses fogged the whole morning.

Skein dyed crimson on a steel rod over a basin of dye — fig. 10 — crimson, almost purple

Skein dyed rust-orange on a steel rod over a basin of dye — fig. 11 — rust-orange, next bowl over

Same wood, different baths, two colours. The plant doesn't decide alone — the water does too.

Listening to the master at the workshop table — fig. 12 — listening

선생님 talked with his hands the whole time. most of it wasn't in the handout.

Q — which of this did he learn from a book, and which from someone's hands?

III.WED 6 AUGback outside · the whole process, start to finish

Pounding dried safflower petals in a wooden mortar — fig. 13 — the mortar

Pounding the dried petals first. The pestle is worn smooth — other people's hands, for years.

Safflower cakes from June resting in a bamboo basket — fig. 14 — the cakes from June, waiting

Feeding dried stalks into the fire under the cauldron — fig. 15 — feeding the fire

Ladling lye water from the cauldron — fig. 16 — ladling 잿물

Squeezing yellow liquid from a bag of safflower petals into a bowl — fig. 17 — the yellow, leaving

Dried stalks under the cauldron. The ash becomes 잿물, the lye water that coaxes the red out of the petals. Nothing here gets thrown away.

too strong and it ruins the colour, too weak and nothing comes. she just knew. I don't know how yet.

Squeeze out the yellow again. It runs gold, almost too pretty to pour away.

Then the same bag into the ash water — and now what comes out is red-brown, like strong tea.

Working the petal bag in a basin of lye water — fig. 18 — in the lye

Pouring schisandra berries into an onggi jar — fig. 19 — 오미자, for the sour

Schisandra water goes in and the bath flips. Orange-brown → red, right in front of you.

A hand resting in the red dye bath — fig. 20 — the bath, finally red

Cloth turning from orange to pink in the dye bath — fig. 21 — orange first, then pink pushing through

Lifting pink cloth from the basin to read the colour in the sun — fig. 22 — reading it in the light

fingertips red at the edges this time. not orange. it came out.

Lift it to the sun to read the colour. Down in the basin it lies to you.

Q — how long does this pink hold in sunlight? the June cloth already looks softer.

Pink cloth held up over blue cloth — fig. 23 — pink over blue

Hanging pink cloth on green lines to dry in the wind — fig. 24 — the wind does the last part

Onto the green lines, wet and heavy. Shake it out flat so it doesn't dry in creases — the folds hold dye differently.

shade, not full sun, at first.
turn it once. let the wind finish.

wet it looks darker than it will be. it keeps lightening as it dries. hard not to touch it.

Walking back along a forest path with an empty basket — fig. 25 — walking back, empty basket. tired in the good way.

WHAT I KNOW NOW THAT I DIDN'T IN JUNE

Red has to be coaxed out. Yellow first, then ash, then sour.
Timing is read with eyes, not clocks.
Hands remember more than this notebook does.
It takes a lot of people to make one pink.

next: blue. → indigo note