The second method was used to a large extent in central India, and a few examples are also known from Peru. Sir George Watt, in his “Indian Art of Delhi,” gives such a clear description of Indian Tie-Dyeing, Knot-Dyeing, or Bandana work that it is worth quoting:
“The once famous Bandana handkerchiefs may be given as the best known example of Tie-Dyeing. The process is simple, but so laborious that it could only have been invented or practiced in a country where food was cheap and consequently human labor valued at an abnormally low figure. Tie-Dyeing may be described briefly as follows: The fabric is folded several times into half until reduced to a square or rectangular piece perhaps not more than one foot by a foot and a half in length and two or three folds in thickness. It is then dampened and pressed over a block which consists of a piece of wood with a mass of nails or pins fastened all over it in elaboration of some design. It is then taken off the block and given to a girl (the Bandhani) who purposely allows her thumb and forefinger nails to grow long with a view to their becoming an indispensable pair of pincers, by means of which minute particles of the cloth may be laid hold of readily. The raised up portions indicated by the block are seized and deftly tied by a string that may or may not have been coated with a resist paste. Great skill is needed not only to securely grasp all the layers of cloth at once, but to so seize each portion that it may crinkle in a particular manner while being securely wound around and tied. Moreover, the thread is not cut into separate pieces at each tied point. It is carried from the one to the other and is merely held in position by the turn upon itself that is given just before being carried to the next point. In consequence, when the operation of dyeing has been completed, the thread may be readily unwound and used again and again.
An example of Japanese tied and dyed work
A tied and dyed Jacket
“The Bandhani having finished her task, the fabric is given to the dyer, who begins by immersing the folded up and compactly tied cloth in the lightest shade that it is intended to be given, say yellow. When finished, it is handed to the Bandhani, who now impresses it upon a second pattern block, and proceeds to tie a still further series of raised up points. It is again dyed the next shade, say red, and if the pattern and scheme of color desired be thus completed, the threads are unwound and the fabric opened out, when it will be found to have a red field with a pattern in white and yellow points, repeated several times all over it.
“Instead of stopping with a red, a third series of points may be tied, and the fabric dyed black, when the pattern will appear in points of white, yellow and red on a black (or black brown) field. But should a still more elaborate design be contemplated, the tying and dyeing may be repeated indefinitely. For example, the first points tied may have been very large and the cloth so folded that when they are opened out they form perfectly circular white spots, squares, or star-shaped patches upon the first ground color. These may now be dealt with separately and be tied and retied until the circles, the squares, or the stars become variegated by concentric bands of color, or a final special spot may be given in the center of each by uncovering the tips so as to allow these portions of the tied up spaces to receive the desired tint; in fact, such exposed portions may be specially colored by means of a brush. But since the tying of points can never be absolutely complete, the very center of each bears the tiniest speck of the final field color.