Now artisans of hair embroidery in Dongtai have made innovations in techniques, such as turning double hook into demitint, and developing double-faced embroidery and double-faced embroidery of different colors, making the expressive force of hair embroidery much richer.
江苏东台，因其生产天下一绝的发绣而闻名中外。发绣色彩柔和，风格独特，比丝绣新颖，清隽高雅，耐腐防蚀，利于收藏。发绣用人发作“线”，用绸或绢作载体，利用头发黑、白，灰、黄和棕的自然色泽，以及细、柔、光、滑的特性，用接针、切针、缠针和滚针等不同针法绣制而成。
Dongtai in Jiangsu Province is well-known both domestically and internationally for its unique hair embroidery.Hair embroidery has soft colors and unique styles. It’s superior to silk embroidery for its novelty, freshness and elegance. In addition, it is corrosion resisting and good for collection. Hair embroidery is made with different stitch techniques (pinning, cutting, winding and rolling needle) by using human hair as the “thread” with silk or tough silk as the carrier while taking advantage of the natural color of hair: black, white, gray, yellow and brown, and the characteristics of hair: thin, soft, lustrous and smooth.
发绣的历史可追溯到唐宋年间。唐代佛教鼎盛时期，虔诚信女为表示自己对佛教的虔诚，剪下自己的长发，在丝绢上绣成观音或如来，这便是最早的发绣。但由于古时人们珍惜头发如生命，认为“肌肤毛发，受之父母，不敢损伤”。加之发绣技术要求高，制作困难，因而逐渐衰落。
Hair embroidery can be traced back to the Tang and Song Dynasties. When Buddhism reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty, pious female believers cut off their long hair to embroider Avalokitesvara or Buddha on the silk to show their devotion to Buddhism, which is seen as the earliest hair embroidery. But ancient people regarded hair as life as “skin and hair come by the parents and they dare not to damage.” Besides, hair embroidery calls for high techniques and is faced with many difficulties in production, so it was on the wane over time.
徜徉在“中国发绣艺术之乡”的东台大街上，处处可见发绣工艺品商店，欣赏选购发绣商品的中外游客络绎不绝。目前，东台从事发绣工艺设计、配色、勾绷、刺绣和装裱等的技艺人员逾万人。东台拥有发绣专业公司、专业厂家30多家，发绣工艺点和经销门市部400多处，在台湾、香港、东京等地都设有销售窗口。目前，发绣畅销美国、加拿大、欧洲、日本、新加坡及港澳台等50多个国家和地区，被国际友人称为“珍贵的收藏品”。
Roaming the streets of Dongtai, the “home of China’s hair embroidery”, we can see shops selling hair embroidery works. Domestic everywhere and overseas visitors come to buy hair embroidery commodities in an endless stream. At the moment, over 10,000 people in Dongtai are engaged in the design, color matching, sketching on the embroidery framework, embroidering and mounting of hair embroidery works. Dongtai has more than 30 companies and plants, 400 centers and outlets specializing in hair embroidery, with sales outlets set up in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tokyo and other places. For now, hair embroidery has hit the market in over 50 countries and territories, including the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and is dubbed as “a precious collection” by foreigners.
获得国际博览会大奖的发绣作品《清明上河图》是东台发绣的代表作之一，该作品摹绘了张择端的画意和神韵，用缕缕发丝把中国经典名画细致入微地展现出来，令人叹为观止。
“Qingming Festival by the Riverside “, award winner of the World’s Fair, is one of the representative masterpieces of Dongtai hair embroidery. It traces the artistic beauty and charm of Zhang Zeduan and represents every vivid detail of this classic painting of China with fine hairs, truly an amazing work.
如今，东台的发绣艺人们创新手法，变双钩为晕色，开发出双面发绣和双面异色绣，使得发绣作品的表现力更为丰富。
