A soothing look at the long process of hand-making safflower rouge

November 29, 2023 9:39 AM

A relaxing and interesting video showing a method of making powder blush with safflower. Facebook algorithm showed this to me (stolen & reposted without context natch) but this is the original. The account is the work of "a cameraman record[ing] his nephew producing handicrafts with traditional methods in the countryside."

China Daily has a lovely article about their videos.

I gather that Shanbai has been very popular on Douyin, a Chinese video-sharing entity, but I've previously only seen their content stolen & reposted on English social media. They recently started their own YouTube channel, so if you like the safflower rouge video, check out their other videos!

For another incredibly soothing but non-video look at someone making powder blush with safflower, check out Remaking Rouge from the Northern Wei Dynasty of China.

posted by Baethan (7 comments total)

(make sure you have CC turned on if you don't read Chinese & want to know what's going on in the videos!)
posted by Baethan at 9:58 AM on November 29, 2023

I wonder why all the pigment from the first few washings wasn't collected? (I also wonder why the cat was not allowed to help--he clearly wanted to!)
posted by mittens at 10:34 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

i know that most of these 'traditional Chinese production methods' videos are pure government propaganda paid for and then promoted by the Chinese government and still I watch them because they are so soothing.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:37 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

If the uncle & nephew duo are getting government funding, I'd consider it more support for the arts & cultural heritage than propaganda.

Por qué no los dos, maybe.
posted by Baethan at 12:13 PM on November 29, 2023

are pure government propaganda…
Doesn’t life in China seem like a dream?

p.s. can anyone elaborate on the translation of: 红蓝花
I’m gathering its “safflower”, but is it just “Red indigo” (where indigo is the plant)? Is 蓝 used for: blue(indigo), the plant (indigo), and when modified by 花 (flower) it denotes any generic plant or flower dye? Given that I guess safflower is a pH indicator(something I didn’t know until this video), as is indigo carmine, the etymology & history there seems fascinating. When is blue not blue? I guess when it’s Red.
posted by rubatan at 2:30 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

> I wonder why all the pigment from the first few washings wasn't collected?
I’m making this up so someone more knowledgeable correct me, but the video mentions removing the yellow dye. Maybe it is collected for other purposes.
But for the rouge it looks like they’re doing a simple acid-base extraction where things are (or aren’t) soluble depending on pH. They solubilize the pigment they want, after removing what they don’t want, and associate it with the starch in the grain flour (white powder), dehydrate and powder.

Incredible to wonder how ancient wisdom worked out each step, “oh! it works better with the third wash from the ash (a base)”, “It collects in this kind of starch when we cook with it, I wonder if we could just get a clean dye?”, etc

> why the cat was not allowed to help
clearly an oversight, or perhaps their presence alone is part of the ancient wisdom. I see you understand, mittens.
posted by rubatan at 2:46 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I wonder why all the pigment from the first few washings wasn't collected?

My guess is that it will be used as a fabric dye - I believe safflower, amongst other things, is one of the dyes that go to making traditional Buddhist robes to get that really intense yellow colour. Probably best not to have a makeup that will stain your face.
posted by ninazer0 at 5:53 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]