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Summary

This toolkit is a contemporary artistic practice based on emotional power. It discusses "emotion as material" and guides learners to learn the artistic method of folding dyeing to discover their emotions. You don't need artistic skills or artistic background to complete this toolkit. This is an experiential method.

What’s Your emotion now?

We often divide our life into different stages, taking major events as the symbol, and compress the emotional complexity of each period into a single dominant emotion.

When we lovelorn, we will summarize this difficult time as a sad emotion.

However, the emotion is so soft that it is changeable every time.

People’s emotions are very soft.

Soft States —— “Soft” does not mean gentle, fragility, tame or “good mood”.

It is a comprehensive concept of emotional state + material state + relationship state.

And people will experience many emotional changes in one day, either sadness, happiness, anger or calm.

Now we don’t talk about “how are YOU feeling these days” or “how are YOU feeling today” .

But “whether YOU felt your emotions in these 20 minutes”.

Observing emotions as a material, YOU will begin to find things that you can’t see at ordinary times, such as:

where is the soft state hidden in YOUR body?

What borders protect YOU?

How do YOUR emotions flow?

What soft moments surprised YOU?

Let these problems appear in the process of folding, flowing, recording.

( Note: What you want to “discover” is not a problem, a wound or a conclusion, but how you operate, how emotions are expressed as a force, and how you are seen, named and understood in relationships. Such a discovery requires no pressure, no performance, and no precise language. It gives you a softer and freer way to know yourself. What you find is not an “answer”, but a new way of watching!)

Tye-dyeing

The traditional tie-dyeing materials are materials that can be “dyed” such as cloth or paper cotton, and materials that can “tie” other objects such as rope, plus professional dyes or natural dyed plants, as well as some catalysts and heating materials. The operation steps are as follows: first, fold the cloth, then tie it with rope to form a dye-proof area, and then dip-dye and color it.

Tie-dyeing’s metarials

Tie-dyeing’s steps

Does the step folding like the question “What borders protect YOU?”

Does the step soaking like the question “How do YOUR emotions flow?”

Does the step unfolding step like the question “What soft moments surprised YOU?”

The traditional tie-dyeying has always been associated with emotions, because its steps are like a journey to discover YOUR own soft emotions.

Do YOU want to have a try? However, is it difficult to obtain its materials immediately?

So, let’s make a little change on this basis!

Let’s turn tie-dyeing into folding dyeing!

Let’s learn how to find YOUR soft emotions in folding dyeing way, so as to pay more attention to YOURSELVES and love YOURSELVES more!

FOLDING DYEING!!!

HERE WE GO!!!

Preparation materials

They are low price, simple, easy access, single use.

( Note: Be careful to stain the color on your clothes and environment, and pay attention to protection!)

1: A piece of foldable paper (napkin/tissue/fabric)

2: Water or other liquid

3. Color (ink/watercolor/liquid cosmetics/juice)

Now, take a deep breath and ask,

How soft are YOU today?

Step description

The step demonstration

( Note: Click this link to watch the step demonstration video)

Step 1: Folding (3 minutes)

It is the demonstration for the Soft states: Unfolding emotions and liquid feelings Open toolkit step 1.

Fold the paper one or more times.

You can fold it in a straight line and turn it into a polygon.

Of course, you can also fold it according to an arc, or even fold it into a circle.

Thinking: What are YOU protecting?

Step 2: Flowing (3 minutes)

It is the demonstration for the Soft states: Unfolding emotions and liquid feelings Open toolkit step 2.

Drop water+one color on the folded paper. Let the liquid move by itself.

( Note: You can choose the corresponding color according to their current mood. You can also choose the color of things that affect your mood at present.)

Manipulate your piece of foldable paper (Napkin/Tissue/Fabric) to make colored liquid flow.

You can leave some parts stained with color for a long time.

Or you can open your material layer by layer and let it flow according to your mood.

Thinking: Where does the liquid want to flow? What is YOUR resistance?

Step 3: Recording (3 minutes)

It is the demonstration for the Soft states: Unfolding emotions and liquid feelings Open toolkit step 3.

Expand your work and record it with the colored tools you have.

You can sketch along your crease or along the edge of flowing color traces.

You can only use lines for recording, or you can paint colored blocks on the basis of existing traces for recording.

You can record with similar colors or choose colors with strong contrast.

( Note: that the recording material here can be any material that can leave traces. Whether it’s colored pens made of various materials, pencils, cosmetics, fruit juice, or colored objects for rubbing!)

Or you can just remain the same.

(Note: “inaction” is also a way of recording!)