Japanese Stencil Master In-House Study

Noguchi san is a 6th generation katazome master. His son Kazu is the 7th. I have known them for 17 years now. I could write volumes on my experiences at their studio. I bring my out-of-towners there and watch them levitate in cultural and textile heaven.

Although I have spent countless days over the years at Noguchi sans studio there are things I still haven't picked up. I decided to go formally study with them for a few weeks this August.  I am bringing along some friends so we can all pick up the minute details. Seven pairs of eyes are more effective than one.

Kim, Mini, Serge, Dillon, Harada kun, Aliki and myself.

There are recipes for making the rice resist paste in books and on the Internet. I've tried a few and they work. I've asked Noguchi san how he does it but was never quite sure of the minute details. He is teaching us how to do it. Not on the small scale I usually manage in my kitchen though. He measures out the sifted mochi rice powder and slaked lime and adds boiling water.

The quality and strength of the slaked lime changes over time. He was particularly concerned with this point. He has been making it for 65 years. It is hard for him to tell us all the nuances of the lime never mind the other thousand details he manages in the entire process.

He works with his wife in a well choreographed kneading ritual. Cutting the dough-like rice past in sections and exchanging them in effortless tosses to each other. 

The paste patties are now ready for the next step we will do today.

One of our projects will be to make a festival jacket. The scope of Japanese standardization left us all speechless at the end of a long day. Three ancient nails on the wall is all that is needed to measure out the material into lengths for sleeves and the body and to know where the stencils will be placed to line up on the back of the jacket. 

The fermentation indigo was in perfect condition in the sweltering summer heat.

Our resident hunky Dillon models the shirushibanten we will all make.

Aliki and Dillon align their stencils so the pattern matches seamlessly. 

There was enough information to write a book just on first day visit. It is hard to edit my excitement to write even a simple blog post. I will keep you posted over the next few weeks. 

Indigo Workshop in Brooklyn

The scenery is quite different here in New York. Stuck on the sweltering heat grid of Manhattan with millions of stressed out overheating New Yorkers.

I miss the mountains and the dogs and Hiro and a regular schedule of weeding the garden and feeding the silkworms. I suppose there is a kind of regular schedule manifesting itself the past three weeks….waking up and wondering which cool cafe to have my morning shot of caffeine at and which cool deli to have my lunch at and which cool place to have dinner at. After dinner the dilemma where to go for the best locally brewed beer here in the hyper hipster epi-center of the universe Williamsburg/Greenpoint  Brooklyn.

It is hard to admit to actually loving it here. The grass and mountains are pretty green on my side of the fence. New York is still pretty seductive even in the heat.

Silk babies to Cocoons. One month.

This year is the 16th that I have raised silkworms. For the past three years I've wanted to take a break.   The whole thing was more of a chore than before. To have the mulberry fields in good condition takes time and effort. The equipment sterilized and organized takes time and muscle power.

 To raise the silkworms themselves takes a month. From cocoon making to breeding the moths for the next season takes a few weeks. Reeling the cocoons into threads takes a week of solid reeling and throwing. The thread from the last five years has just been sleeping in a box upstairs. The last umpfff to dye it and weave it just hasn't been accessible. There has been too many other things on the burner with carpentry work and teaching.

Enthusiasm was waning and I was one step away from....." I used to raise silkworms and reeled the silk into thread and wove it for 15 years but I quit."

 I found the time and energy to do it this year. Although the mulberry wasn't perfectly branched and the trays could have used a dip in the river all turned out well. There was a group of students at the house and some of them were able to see steps from the eggs hatching until the cocooning.

The entire intricate process was what interested me at first. The history and beauty of the silk was hypnotic. Nothing new was going on the past few years. The nostalgia of the process is all that kept it going.   I've made a lot of things from the silk in the past. Some good some not so good. A few brilliant pieces. (No false modesty here.) Now is the challenge to make something more satisfying. That will take some serious focus time. To take time with a clear head to make the threads and dye them to perfection and weave them with care. The right balance of everything.

To make double cocoons, (two silkworms in a single cocoon) I keep fresh newspaper under the boxes and when I hear and see a silkworm pee (They pee once when they have completed the rough outline of the cocoon they stick their butt out and get ride of the extra water that did not make it into silk.) it is taken out of the box and then introduced to a friend in another box and cover it in glass forcing the two to make a single cocoon. This takes forever.  (And is a tad on the gross side.) The double cocoons produce a shiny slightly slubby thread when reeled. I'll use it for every second warp thread. The single cocoons will be reeled for part of the warp and weft. I'll melt one thousand of them in an ash lye solution and spin them for most of the weft.   There is a lot of work ahead. The beautiful perfection of kimono design was obvious with Mark and Gwen's and Dillon's and Sana'a and Melody's kimono they stitched last week. I haven't sewn one in years and want to get back to that kind of work.

Eggs hatching and being brushed off:

Time has just melted together. Where did the past five months go? It was just yesterday that we were dealing with the snow.

It is hard to imagine that this monsoon garden was sleeping under all that.

Indigo, Silkworms. Official Japanese Farmer

I an official Japanese farmer. I hear there are only a few of us non-Japanese certified here. I've been raising indigo and silkworms (growing mulberry) and 2000 square meters of green tea for many years now. The government officials came a few weeks back, checked me out and I received the certification a week later.
I received this t-shirt to commemorate the occasion.

I never managed to grow a full field of indigo last year because of other obligations. The field is fully planted this year and growing well. The first harvest will have to wait until I'm back from working in New York in July. It should be a bushy 75 centimeters tall by then.  I used a generous amount of chicken and pig manure this year and the indigo is grateful.

The days are packed with activities at the house. Up at the crack of dawn with Mark gathering mulberry for the silkworms. 

Yazaki san is teaching Gwen, Mark, Sana, Melody and Dillon to sew kimono upstairs next to the munching silkworms. They cut their stencils, dyed the fabric in indigo and started sewing them the next day. I am so proud of them.

 These guys are so proud of their hand stitched work. Mark made a denim kimono to wear to his brother's wedding in Ireland this summer. It will be cool paired with his family tartan kilt.

Melody and Sana cut these stencils like honey badgers. So much talent around the house this rainy season. 

Leafy Tails University of Applied Shibori, Graduate Class of May 2014.

Thank you Mark for this picture and title for the post. Ichi go ichi e.  A very precious and special time together.

Thank you Margit, Bee, Mary and Paul, Mark and Mary, Marley, Alex and Glennis. (and Hiro)

Bryan

*click to see some happy happy faces.

Spring 2014 Workshops.

This spring I held three ten-day workshops. (Number three is in full swing now.) I thought I might be dead of exhaustion by the last group.  But no. The hardest thing (besides getting the house spic and span from top to bottom) is editing what to say and do.

This group is somewhat unique. Mark and his mother Mary and father Paul and friend Marly from Italy and Ireland.  Bee and her mother Margit from Denmark. Alex and her mother Glennis from the UK. Mary is my soul-sister from Vancouver.  A family affair.



We are having a campfire outside every night. Last night we were Kumi himoing until midnight with the frogs in the pond keeping rhythm with the soft clunking of the bobbing braiding the silk.

The trip to Noguchi sans studio was magical as always. 

The Cherry Blossom Group was special. There were some real weaving masters there. Barbara was so so so kind and brought a warp for my neglected counter-marche all the way from the States. The loom is happier now that it finally working properly. A warp properly warped and balanced.  I've played around on it for years and never really really getting it right. Actually the whole middle room with the Scandinavian looms feels better with that functioning warp in there. The dogs seem to like the room better as well. Thank you Barbara. Some dust bunny loom ghosts have been exorcised.  You were all camera shy. (Ulrike, I haven't a single picture of you!) Barbara, Ulrike, Muriel, Lyn, Linda, Monike,  Jean, Kandace and Virginia....what a group of honey badgers... Thank you all for your kindness and hard work.

Shibori, Katazome and Weaving: Three Months Worth

Mini came and stayed at the house for three months last spring and again this spring. She arrived in the snow. While the damage was being cleaned up she wove away like a honey badger. She spent a single week carving a single stencil. It was brilliant. She was slightly hesitant to cut two stencils at once. She is glad to have twice the work in the end with two gorgeous stencils.

The sun is hot enough to dye with persimmon tannin now. Those stencils look great dyed both with indigo and tannin. Good job Mini.

The workshop members were amazed at the quality of the work and there was an impromptu mini Mini exhibition at the top of the stairs.

She worked on a dozen or so complicated shibori techniques. Some of the pieces were small just to get the idea of the technique. She couldn't suppress the desire to make a few big things when she understood how they worked.

I like how she works. Step by step. She picks up the techniques and files them away.  She keeps building on the basics and will be a master one day. Good start Mini. Bryan