Sanxia Indigo Dye

My husband's indigo dye attempt

close up of my daughter's scarf

The art of Indigo dye has a long history in Sanxia (三峽區). The plant used for making this special dye, goldfussia formosanus, cannot have direct sunlight, and thrives in the wetlands by rivers and under bushes. The actual dye is created using a traditional sedimentation method of soaking, adding lime, distillation, and fermentation-reduction (for details click here). When we visited Sanxia, we were able to design our own scarves by tying thread, bands, and wooden sticks to plain cotton cloth before dyeing. We soaked them in the dye to set the color.

Sanxia Old Street

The visit to the Sanxia dyeing association was just one of the meaningful activities we had as part of the Fulbright Midyear conference. This conference is a 3-day event featuring social, cultural, and academic activities for all of the Fellows, Senior Scholars, ETAs, staff, and Board Members. This year, the event was at the Great Roots Forestry Spa and Resort (-->新北市三峽區插角里80號), with incredible hot springs, hiking trails, rare bird species, suspension bridges, and trees with giant roots! Fulbright also organized a guided tour of the Yingge Ceramics Museum (鶯歌) and a multi-course meal at Muton Hakkah Restaurant (牧童遙指客家村餐廳). During the conference, each of the scholars and fellows present the progress of their individual projects (from artistic activities to collecting data in research labs). It was fascinating hearing the range of the professional and personal activities people were engaged in. My favorite parts were spending time with colleagues during walks and meals and getting to know them better.