REBEL (m)

REBEL

"When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty"

Thomas Jefferson

Rebels are history's romantic heroes and heroines, sometimes revolutionaries and sometimes just great looking men and women with loads of charisma, and sometimes both! Good looking or out to make their mark, all rebels have one thing in common, they changed things and often upset the apple cart in the process. Rebels challenge and often upset the status quo - a healthy thing to do but too much of it and a rebel becomes a rebellion.

For Jefferson, this quote of his is drafted into the Declaration of Independence - if Government does do its duty to protect peoples' "Safety and Happiness" then people must change the government! 

Rebels are icons in their sphere of influence, so if you know an icon, this is the band for them!

Size & Fitting

The organic fabric band measures 33cm / 13 inches in length. To fit to size, the length can be trimmed with scissors.

Worn on the wrist or ankles, it is double tied at the back to hold the band in place. The organic nature of the material means it stays put. The band can be sown onto clothes or onto soft furnishings or used as a decoration. 

The Fabric and Yarns 

The processes for making the yarns and dyes for our Bands of Courage date back over a thousand years using authentic processes and ingredients which are not just natural, but highly medicinal.

The fabrics and yarns are certified organic cotton used in the manufacture of clothing and our bands begin as greige or unfinished fabric which pass through 5 stages before recycling:-

1. De-sizing, washing the greige cloth with natural mineral-rich water and sea salts to remove sizing, gums and oils.

2. Bleaching, using direct sunlight, and a combination of natural grass and animal manure.

3. Mordanting, to make colours bright, they are impregnated with mordants such as myraballam, rhubarb leaves, oils, minerals, alum, iron (no heavy metal mordants are used). 

4. Dyeing, using rich herbs to dye the fabric by immersing the plants themselves directly into the dye bath - the dyes are listed below.

5. Finishing, by sprinkling the fabric with water and aloe-vera and stretched using hand-rolls; and, finally . . .

6. Recycling all the solid and liquid wastes, which are used for farming, water the fields and manure.

The dyes used are:-

Haritaki - natural green in colour, it is only grown in parts of the Himalayas and is known as the King of the Herbs. It is a highly potent herb for treating many serious diseases;

Turmeric - a yellow dye, also called 'Indian saffron', it comes from the ginger family and is great for skin complaints;

Indigo - a blue dye from the leaves of the Indigo tincoria, and cures gout amongst other things!

Madder - a red dye known as the 'king of dyes' as it contains alizarin, it is also used as a treatment for pain;

Pomegranate - an ocher-yellow dye which improves colourfastness and as a medicinal herb is great for the heart!

Onion - is used to produce dye colours in shades of orange, yellow, rust and brown, and it's especially good for treating serious skin diseases like Leprosy.

Hand Embroidered Finishes

There are three hand embroidered finished used to create the inscriptions on our fabric bands:-

- French Bullion;

- Japanese Glass Beads;

- Indian Cotton Thread;

Every band is lovingly made by hand and has its own unique little differences so no two bands are exactly the same.