Testing the colour- as a class we mixed the coloured dyed and then individually mixed our own. It was difficult for me to know what colour as I wasn’t sure the shade/brightness of the other parts. After some texting, i opted for a dark blue- thinking it would highlight lighter colours, but not clash with darker ones.

I stretched my fabric out with the 6 sticks with pins on each end. Then mixed dye with the ‘no tears’ gel with stops the dye running, and then painted it on with this thick brush.

Here is my final

At the farm we used dried harvested indigo leaves to dye cloth. I used some thin cotton as the thinner the fabric the more vibrant the colour.

We used 150g of dried leaves with 3l of water on a moderately high heat for 10 minutes.

We then strained the leaves through a cloth and threw out the water. We repeated this process three more times, but adding 25g of sodium hydroxide and 25g of hydro sulphate and saving the water each time.

We then submerged the fabric in the dye, pulling it out to oxidise in the air and then putting back in the dye. You need to repeat the process at least three times to get a strong colour, but can keep going if you want to achieve more depth. Although I have used indigo before, I haven’t been involved in the preparation and it is amazing to see it through from plant to fabric.

 

 

Mixed pigment dye with water and heated.

Mixed some of this liquid dye with nori (rice paste).

You use a small try with a cotton pad and add a gel which fixes the dye from bleeding, adding a few teaspoons of dye and mix. Using a special rounded brush, you start outside of the stencil and work your way in so you get this gradient fade. These shapes I have done too dark, I didn’t realise some of the shape is meant to be left white for another colour to be applied. I made this dark red by mixing scarlet, red and grey.

Although I had done the shapes too dark in the first square, I did the same in the others to keep the design consistent. Adding the next colour dark blue, I tried to leave more light space but was surprisingly hard.

Here is the finished first layer of brushed dye. I added more red shapes, trying to vary in shades but they came out very similar when dry. I am hoping the will change after steaming and washing. I also added this dark orange to make it more interesting and as I had planned to include a lighter blue but there was no way of making the blue lighter without being very bright which I didn’t want. I am happy at this stage, I think I executed the technique pretty well apart from a couple of bleeds of dye, and although I am not 100% pleased with my design I think it looks effective overall.

The next stage is to print the coloured rice glue through the stencil. Because I didn’t understand this stage was coming, I hadn’t planned for extra colours and hadn’t left enough white space. I marked off shapes with masking tape and printed directly through the stencil.

I put too much glue and because my stencil was too flimsy it leaked out. This was very frustrating as could have been avoided but I carried on and I realise it is about the process and learning. One thing that I am having to adjust to here is the difference of design process. Here there is little experimentation, just work towards on final large fabric very slowly and carefully, whereas I am used to making lots of samples to prepare for one final piece, so when I make mistakes like this it is very annoying.

Sawdust is added to protect the glue and I carried on printing more colours, I love this deep red, but I know it will turn out a lot lighter and brighter after the steaming and dyeing.

 

 

Kyo-Yuzen is another resist dye technique, originating in Kyoto in the late 1700s. The resist dye techniques from Japan were influenced by Indias Batik, which moved to China before Japan. The difference is the use of rice paste as glue instead of wax. Yuzen can be done in different ways, but the way I am learning here is a process of making a stencil, brushing chemical dye in a gradient through the stencil. Then printing a layer of coloured glue through the stencil, to protect the dye and also colour the lighter parts, then finally brush on the background dye. I feel this is going to be more difficult than Katazome and I will need to be quite careful and considered.

PICS OF DRAWINGS

We began by doing observational drawing of objects from our bags, I like prefer drawing objects so enjoyed these lessons, I used different black pens and pencil, then I refined my drawing to be appropriate for a stencil. They have to be blocky and without parts that will be too flimsy.

This is my final stencil, I don’t love it but think its quite fun and quirky. I tried some more abstract designs, but as it is going to be repeated four times in a larger square, I could make one that would look effective in this context.

My colour reference images – love how the subtle colours of a grapefruit are similar to many colours that I notice around Japan – on buildings, signs, bottle crates.

Colour I extracted from my photos using Adobe Colour.

Final colour scheme I will use for the shapes dye. I want to use darker colours as I think the background will come out quite light.

 

 

 

 

 

These are kaki (persimmons) grown by my sensei at his farm, they are amazing fruit with many uses. These are astringent ones due to high levels of tannin, meaning they are bitter and have an unpleasant texture so we prepared them for eating by peeling, spraying with a strong alcohol (I think vodka) and hanging for two months. The skin can also be dried and crushed and used for flavour. The tannin in the persimmon is reason they are used for the katzome stencil paper- the paper is soaked in fermented persimmon to make it strong and water resistant.

I have been taking an agriculture class once a week. It is a kind of spiritual class where we consider the natural processes involved in growing and how we can use this mantra in art and life. We use organic fertiliser and pesticide and work with the seasons. It is at the top of the school in the mountains and is a very wholesome and therapeutic experience. There is cotton and indigo grown in the green house, that was already planted when I arrived and we have been learning how to harvest and use them.

Cotton

The cotton plant

Ready to pick

Drying

One of my classmates made a simple spinning wheel with a chopstick, hook and cardboard. She taught me to hold the cotton and gently release it, letting the wheel weight it down and spin it into a yarn. Seeing this simplified small scale cotton growing, makes you really think about mass production and how much effort and resources it takes to make yarn.

Indigo

The Indigo plant

Putting the leaves in a pot with some water, we are just doing a basic version of indigo dyeing using fresh leaves, the colour will not be as vibrant but will be interesting to see what it turns out like.

We mashed up the leaves into a pulp with our hands and strained through a cloth into a bowl.

The green didn’t oxidate as much as when you do the process properly, but this green is very nice and I suspect will be even nicer when it is dry and a lighter shade.

 

When the fabric was completely dry, I took it down and rolled it between a piece of special steaming fabric and newspaper, with another students work in there as well. We then secured with a piece of plastic tied round and put in this big metal steamer. It sat on the burner for 40 minutes. When it was ready, we had to be very quick at unrolling and  pulling the newspaper off to avoid it fusing to the glue.

I then took it to the sink and submerged in warm water and scrubbed with a soft brush to remove newspaper and soften the glue, then too another sink . with flowing cold water and a board to put the fabric flat and scrub the last of the glue off, but mine was quite easy and I had no newspaper stuck as my fabric was on the inside of the roll in the steamer. After a lot of rinsing, I rang it out gently and hung up to dry.

Here is my final textile piece, the right size and shape to give an impression of a Yukata. I am very pleased with how it has turned out. The part I was most worried about was the join between each print, but I think you can’t really see it. Some of my classmates made their pieces so that they connect the print in the middle as well which would have been good for me to do. The colour didn’t come out as dark as I had hoped, I think because I should have left the milk to dry naturally over a longer period. There are a few imperfections where I have smudged glue or dye but overall I am very satisfied. It has been an amazing experience to learn this traditional technique so concisely and I have gained a lot from this experience. As well as practical skills and knowledge, I am learning when it is important to take my time and think carefully about design. As a result of slowing down I didn’t make any mistakes, whereas at home I am always rushing and making mistakes. I think this ethos is so important and can help to reduce environmental impact of textiles. If the whole process is slower and more considered, you are making less and it will last longer with less wastage along the way.

 

After printing the second layer of glue and using a toothpick to fix any irregularities and joins, I left to dry and pulled off the table. You have to pull quick hard but gently so as not to disrupt the glue.

I then strung up my piece, with the end being held by two strips of wood with pins in one half and holes in the other. These pieces of bamboo with pins in each end are to keep the fabric taught and straight.

Next we added a coating of milk solution (1:10 milk and water.) We used cows milk but soy can also be used. The protein of the milk acts as a mordant and helps the dye to darken. This needs to dry for at least at day but I had to dry with heaters.

We then applied the cutch dye. The dye is extracted from the bark of the Cutch tree (Acacia Catechu) known as ‘catechu’ in Japan. This is a relatively cheap dye which is high in tanin giving a strong brown colour, it works well with cotton but also silk and wool. This needs to dry before the next stage.

Then a layer of iron acetate mordant, then drying, then another of the Catchu dye.

 

 

I stumbled across this exhibition in my first few days here and it turned out to be amazing. Exploring the concepts behind everyday dressing and societal codes, this exhibition questions how much choice we really have over our own dressing. First there were stunning examples of pieces from the past and present from Comme des Garçons, Chanel, Gucci ect. It shows how pieces from throughout history have constantly been re-appropriated; camouflage, kimono, logos. They also analyse how fashion if effected by other areas of culture; music, art, film. Everything you wear has a particular context, but the context is always changing and evolving. I find this anthropological look at fashion very interesting. Another question posed is ‘Do we have to determine an items authenticity?’ this is something I often think about; if it looks the same, what is the difference? If high quality garments are made carefully and ethically then a brand means something and authenticity matters. But if like we see today; high end being produced like fast fashion; then I don’t see the point; and if the brand is just for visual recognition and a show of wealth, then does it matter if the fake is good enough? 

An interesting part for me was the Hans Eijkelboom’s photo montages. They are collections of photos grouped by city and year. He has captured members of the public wearing almost identical outfits, claiming that ‘Beneath the illusions of an apparent freedom, citizens are turned into consumers, replicating the behaviours and adopting the appearances dictated by advertising and fashion.’

I think this idea touches a nerve for people, we are all so desperate to be individuals; realising that your taste is not your own is unsettling.

We are using these long pieces of wood propped up on the table, so they can be flipped so two people can work at once. The piece of fabric will be the entire length of the table – roughly 40x640cm. First we covered the tables in a thin layer of glue (I think PVA) and used a squidgy to make sure of an even coverage, then we left to dry for a couple of days.

I used a different table to the ones pictured before, which had a lot of residue ink on so had to spend a while lightly cleaning to make sure none would seep through to my fabric. We then rolled the fabric very carefully onto a card tube to make the placement of it on the table more accurate. We then measured 4cm from each side with pins and string, then rolled the fabric onto the table in line with the string, wetting the glue to make it sticky and using two people to make it easier to get accuracy and avoid creases. I then measured my halfway line, quarter, and three quarters. Starting from the quarter lines and working outwards, I marked my design with a washable pen to check that the pattern matched up. It was a bit uneven as my design is not quite straight, but as the repeat is only happening three times and then a gap it’s OK.

We mixed the rice paste with some water and blue pigment to make the glue more visible against the fabric.

Then used a small squeegee and a silkscreen to print. You need a thicker layer than expected as you really need to push it through the screen, it is a lot more solid then printing ink, but if you over do it, the glue gets lifted off with the screen and the pattern disrupted.

I printed alternate squares allowing time to dry and using a hair dryer where necessary. You need to wash the screen and stencil after three prints otherwise the glue builds up and drys and the pattern will not be crisp.

After the first layer was finished and dry I did a second layer to make the image stronger. I am surprised and pleased about how it has come out. Because of the density of the design, you can’t obviously see the join line and I thought it might look strange as I have not reversed or flipped, simply put one under the other, but I think this looks good.