All the colours of the Rainbow

What are the colours of the Rainbow....?

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet

The fact that there are seven seems significant to me, since it is the number that God uses to represent completeness.

However, I don't know why what we know as "purple" on the normal colour wheel would have been split to give indigo and violet.

I like the fact that when we talk about the entire spectrum we will refer to the colours as "All the colours of the rainbow". Even with technology we can try to reproduce the entire spectrum, but it is amazing that our eyes can identify changes in colour without any technological aids.

Looking at the colour wheel, we are taught that there are three primary and three secondary colours. we can split them up further to lessen the stark changes. Furthermore we can add black to each and get all the shades and then also add white to get all the tints, to produce a wheel similar to the picture.

Add a little more black or a little more white, and you have a different colour altogether. That is why one has to be so careful about dyelots when ordering fabric for production. One cannot mix dyelots within garments, because it will be noticed, especially under neon light or sunlight, and after washing the garment a few times it will start to show.

Unlike the fading of fabric, the promise behind the rainbow, to never destroy the earth again by flood will not ever fade away. (Genesis 9:12-16)

I started the blog with black and white and then went on to scarlet and violet (purple) in another post, which you can read by clicking on the relevant link in the list above. In the future I will look at each of the colours, just keep on reading.

Ok, Yellow and Orange have been added, follow the link above.
EDIT Green and blue are up - one remaining
EDIT: All colours are linked. Happy reading

Tattoos

Looking at our fascination with  the shocking and macabre....
Is the desire to shock not also at the same time the desire to be accepted or noticed? Why do I ask this question - well, if we can get someone to notice us, are we then less lonely / alone? At the same time the desire might stem from a rebellious attitude and our sinful nature.
Why would someone modify their body with a piece of permanent artwork? I'm not advocating tattoos, but I can admire a beautiful piece of art.

My understanding of tattoos are the combination of my worldview and my research into its origins.

1. Worldview: in the Biblical sense, our bodies are temples and a tattoo is like graffiti on its walls. I does not belong, no matter how beautiful the artwork is. Others may argue that it could be like the frescoes or murals in churches (although these were mostly on the inside). If one can argue like this, I will counter with:

2. Origins: Most tattoos have their origin in witchcraft / the occult / tribal rites of passage / superstition. Some of the most awesome tattoos are of the Maori of New Guinea (see picture on the left) which forms part of a rite of passage to prove strength to withstand pain.

Other forms of body modification are practiced by many African tribes, of which this picture is probably the most spectacular. This is not a tattoo per se, but touches on some of the more adventurous person, who has implants under the skin. To achieve the tribal "art", a small incision is made, into which ash or dirt is rubbed to form an infection and scar tissue. Over a period of time, this process is repeated to achieve the desired effect. Again this forms part of a rite of passage and also is believed to ward off evil spirits.

These days, the same effect (and worse) can be achieved by implanting titanium pieces under the skin, to even give a Braille effect as can be see below.


As Christians we have all an outer beauty that we need and all the spiritual protection to go with it. We do not need to modify anything to be accepted by the Most High, except our hearts and that is an internal change. What more do you want? The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes our bodies into a temple and no amount of beautification, on the outside will make it any less.

Linen

For all the Wikipedia fans, here is the reference....

A particular type of flax is grown to long stalks that then have to be stripped of the pectin that holds the fibres together. This is achieved by a combination of washing and crushing the stalks through a series of wooden beams that physically flog the stalks into thin fibres. Once the pectin has been removed, the flax can then be spun, woven and then bleached. With technology of today a white linen can be achieved, but for early manufacture this was very difficult, and so linen was always off-white or beige in colour.

The process is quite intricate. The stalks are grown to about a metre high, and are similar to bast fibres, that run the length of the stalk.The fibres are normally released from the woody stem by retting (rotting), which today takes place when the harvested flax is left to rot for a while in the open fields. Traditionally it was done in rivers, ponds or retting dams.

To process flax by hand is quite arduous and requires great skill at all stages. This link gives a visual insight about the historical production. The nice thing about linen production is that nothing of the flax is wasted, since the seed (linseed) is used for a number of other things and the bark is used for chipboard.

After removing the bark (scutching), the fibres are combed (heckled) to separate the shorter and longer fibres from each other. There is quite an insightful video on Wikipedia that gives a brief summary of the above process.

After achieving the necessary softness of the fibres, they are spun. The two lengths are spun differently, the long ones are wet-spun and the shorter ones are dry-spun. After spinning the yarns are ready to be woven. If this process was done by hand, there would be several steps, as can be seen form the picture below. In Ireland this process was mechanised and some of these machines today still perform as in days of old.

The fabric, after weaving will be treated according to customer requirements, and can include bleaching, dyeing, coating, bonding, printing, texturising and calandering to name a few.

For information on Irish linen, follow this link
So far the modern version....

Linen is older than any other cloth and in ancient Egypt was considered the cloth of kings. Even still during the time of the Israelite kingdoms, it was considered expensive and luxurious. The pharaohs were mummified with roughly 1000 yards (914.4 metres). In Egypt the fabric that was produced could be extremely delicate,

even more delicate than some fabrics today, even with mechanised processes. For further information read here















Most probably the most famous piece of linen is the Shroud of Turin, believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus.

Coming to the crux: if the process of producing linen today is this expensive, with all the machinery that is availbale to us, imagine what it would have cost a women of the first century to produce a linen garement. It therefore is amazing that in Revelation, white (!) linen garments will be handed out to all the saints. Because we will be part of the royal family.

Worker's Plight

The factory workers are the worst off, and yet they are the ones that keep the industry running. Yes, I do agree we cannot go back to having everyone making their own clothes anymore, yet are we aware of how the price we pay in the shops gets expanded through the ranks?

When I did my preparation for one of the new subjects I'm teaching I found an interesting concept: in retail, nothing under a 250% Gross Profit Margin is viable. (gross profit = sales - cost of sales, excluding any overheads) This means that the bottom of the hierarchy will be pushed down as far as anyone can go. The people who are at the receiving end are the CMT's (Cut, Make & Trim)- usually. They will be asked to produce a pair of jeans that retails at about R200, for about R60. Unfortunately this is not really the price that the manufacturers are paid, since this price usually includes transport as well. The CMT's usually are also not responsible for buying the fabric and trims, so the price comes down even more. I'm not sure of the ratio, but it definitely is less than half of that price. This price will be even lower if the garment was manufactured in Asia.

As an aside.... each manufacturer will manufacture tens of thousands of units, so the amount the retailers pay is not necessarily peanuts, but taken at a unit price it becomes quite an eyeopener, especially since roughly 10 - 20 machines / people have worked on each pair of jeans.In the picture above, each row will manufacture one garment, starting at the back and moving through tot the front.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that all (and I'm including myself here) who are keeping the fashion industry going are not aware of what kind of labour is involved and how we perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Not sure if this makes sense.

As Christians are we not called to be as loving towards others as towards ourselves, including the alien and stranger in our midst, especially the poor? This includes treating our employees the way we want to be treated and giving them a fair wage. I'm  a little surprised that the factory workers do not strike more often. I suppose in South Africa our labour is quite expensive, but there are city rates and rates for the rural areas.
I'm not in any way advocating anything less than just keeping this in our minds next time we covet (!) that pair of shoes or that pair of jeans.

Weaving

The history of weaving is a long one - From a simple strip (like Kente Cloth)












to intricate patterns (like Jacquard).

 Today the process is mechanised, but even with machines, scientist have struggled to reproduce the translucent fabrics of ancient Egypt found in archeological digs.

In Jesus's time, weaving was done by women on home looms. the cloak Jesus wore at the time of His crucifixion was special (and that also meant, if bought, expensive), in that is was woven in one piece. This was significant, because the soldiers were unable to break up the pieces and so had to cast lots for this cloak. (Picture)

Weaving and sewing today are inseparable in that someone has to sew together what someone else has woven. A very special seamstress is mentioned who was part of the early church. She died and other women begging Peter to bring her back to life so that she could continue her service to the community. Her name was Dorcas and the reference can be found in Acts 9:32-40. If all seamstresses got this kind of recognition today, what a different place the Fashion industry would be today.

This would bring me to "best practice" in the industry, which warrants a whole new post.

Changes

After changing the look of blog, there are a few things that came to mind:

How quickly fashions change.....
Does this have to do with our discontentment with what we have, or our desires to be like others, the rich and famous?

The cycle of fashion is driven by our desires to want more and fast. The quicker the fashions change, the faster we get tired of them, the more we want, the faster the fashions change. And the cycle continues.

Can we not just slow down? Our lives are a reflection of the fashions. We are busier than ever and achieve less and less. Where do we find the time to slow down, relax and just think? What do we understand when we say "relax"? What is it that we do in our down-time?

I think we need to slow down the cycle in our own lives and maybe just be content for a while, smell the flowers (or coffee, or jungle).

Fragrance(s)

It has taken me a bit of research to get to the history of fragrances as we know them today.

Since most fashion houses make in the vicinity of 75% of their revenue from accessories and perfume, this theme will need to be addressed here.

Perfumes and fragrances are old. Many ancient cultures, also Judaism used specific recipes for fragrant offerings / sacrifices, which could not be used anywhere else. Read Exodus 30:38 in context. Buddhism and Hinduism still use incense sticks in their worship / prayers, mainly made from fragrant oils and woods.

In 2 Corinthians 2 it says: 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

It is amazing that we are that fragrant offering in the end.

I also remember a scene from the book "I dared to call him Father" where she has a dreams about a perfume bottle on her dress stand and when she wakes up finds the Bible sitting in the same spot. I think God's word is like a fragrance in our lives as well.