Ink and Wax Painting in Japan.

My friends know Eros Nakazato as the guy with the great  hair who makes cool stuff around my house. (Like the outdoor bath light and the staircase railing going upstairs. )  We have had a few exhibitions together in Europe over the years.

He had an exhibition of a sumi ink painting he did on cloth at our local restaurant last month. As always it was breathtaking... his work sort of takes the oxygen out of the room.

Of course it was filled with horses. The background writing is a poem written by a Japanese poet/ essayist in the final months of the second world war. The painting referenced some of Eros older work and of course the tsunami and Fukushima.

He did not melt the wax off and left it there to add to the surreal lighting from behind. The only colour was on the moon behind the horse.

(Please click to see them up close.)

Yoshio and Liu are in there to give some scale to the picture.

His sculpture work is also very good.

And the man himself. 

Years ago he drew this horse and snail for our exhibition in Liechtenstein. 

Dyeing Leather With Indigo.

There have been a few guys at the house the past year trying to get an idea of how to dye leather with indigo. I don' have that much direct experience but keep an eye on the experiments going on in the indigo vats.

There is a huge difference in how different leathers take the indigo. Of course the leather should not be treated with anything. The key is to have the leather well wet before dyeing. A few hours in warm water to be safe. Brushing the leather with a soft brush in the water helps to get in wet evenly so the dye job will be even.

The indigo should be top condition. Keep the leather under the indigo for at least five minutes. Not the average one or two minutes. Oxidise for at least ten minutes then rinse the leather thoroughly and brush it lightly to take off any indigo pigment that is simple caught up in the fibres of the leather but not actually attached to the leather. Repeat this until you get the depth of colour you want. Remember the leather looks dark but will dry several shades lighter.

To neutralise the alkalinity of the indigo before it damages the leather and shrinks up nastily, wash and wash and rinse the leather. Use whatever kind of cream etc. that you usually use to keep some suppleness.  If the leather is not taking the indigo well let the object dry and wait a few days before repeating the process.

The indigo makes a simple mechanical bond with the leather like it does with blue jeans. It will abrade off. This cannot be helped. Sealants etc. can help but the indigo leather will weather. Calculate this into your design aesthetic and make sure your client knows this well before selling.

Jonathan, (Bandana Almanac fame.  http://bandanna-almanac.com) was here yesterday from Osaka to dye some leather boot uppers.  They looked great and look forward to wearing a pair in a few months. The order will end up in Chicago.

Leather can successfully be dyed with indigo. It takes some experimenting and understanding the properties of both the indigo and the leather being dyed.  It is possible to use stencil dyeing with leather. Don't expect crisp clear lines though.

Jonathan carefully starts the dyeing.

Mid dye.

Five dips later and ready to dry. I would't wear good light coloured socks with these boots at first.

How could I write about indigo leather dyeing without including a picture of the belt I wear almost every day. Hand carved with a sketch of the indigo vat it was dyed in at the tip, preceded by lotus, carp and bamboo and a chrysanthemum images. (Thanks to the Irish carver out there in Italy.)

The blog has been quiet but not the house.

I didn't have time to write enough on the exhibition in Europe. Barbara's sharp curating eye did a good job with the old advertising towels I persimmon dyed and patched together to resemble knock off buddhist kesas. It was good to catch up with old friends in Liechtenstein. Muriel and Ullie travelling all that way to spend a few precious hours.  Mark driving up from Italy to lend his uber talented hands to the whole effort. Thank you all for all the help and support.

Rickie Lee Jones says it best:

I'm soulful and grateful and gleeful
Hey, hey yeah
Caught me in its ray

Tender moments at the indigo vat in Liechtenstein when a beautiful mother traces an indigo tattoo on her beautiful son's arm.

After coming back from Liechtenstein in late September the house has been full of students and the indigo vats have not been lonely.

Hundreds of photos taken by myself and friends...I can't keep track of them.

We visited Noguschi san's stencil paradise three times this autumn.

97 year old Ogata san comes by and makes udon for us for lunch on Tuesdays.

Hiro fills the house with his magic flower arrangements.

There is always that last midnight silk cocoon reeling demonstration because we are behind schedule and the workshop wouldn't be the workshop without it. And the last second group picture.

And of course students work. There were too many works to document. I lose sometimes. The students bring originality and determination. Mariana....you get first prize for your mokume shibori and your repeat stencil was amazing. 

The good will of the workshop members who travel from all corners of the planet to spend time at my house overwhelms me. Thank you all. You give my life meaning. Thank you.

There are moments of calm now. Momo gets some reading done and the light shines peacefully thought the kitchen waiting for the fun to start again.

Click to see full images.

Leafy Video

Thank you Mark.


Short video of what was going on this spring....

Happi Hantens: Hand Sewn, Indigo dyed, Original Hand Cut Stencils.

Our Hanten jackets are finished.  Yazaki san came to the house and taught us to sew them by hand.

How many hundreds of subtle steps were there before we put them on? Making the paste from boiling rice four and mixing with bran.  Crushing soy beans to make a liquid to bind the pigments to the cloth.

How could our seven sets of eyes and cameras document so much?

We were all in awe. I don't know where to start writing about it. I will put together a few workshops in the future. How to cut the stencils, use the different pigments with the indigo and how to hand sew these hanten jackets. I am looking forward to mastering sewing them myself.

It was an unforgettable few weeks. Thank you. 

I am leaving for Europe in a few hours for an exhibition and some fresh alpine air.  The exhibition will be at the Gasometer in Triesen in Liechtenstein. I'll be visiting friends in Switzerland and Austria as well.  Exhibition and Workshop in Liechtenstein

Making Katazome Rice Paste/ Harvesting Indigo.

It was sweltering at the stencil studio yesterday. Dripping sweat didn't dampen our enthusiasm much. Only a few scorching minutes that seemed to drag on for eternity. It was worth it.

The stencils are resisted with a rice paste. Each master seems to have their own recipe. The basic ingredients are glutinous rice flour, fine rice bran and slaked lime. According to the material being stencilled and the complexity and fineness of the stencil itself the elasticity and thickness of the paste is adjusted. The paste is also used to size the 6 meter long boards to attach the cloth to. The material must be stuck on firmly but leave no paste residue on the back when peeled off. Each sizing of the board lasts approximately five uses.

We boiled the balls of mochi rice paste on an old wood fire stove for three hours and then stirred and mixed and added the boiling goop water to get the exact right consistency. It was an overwhelming amount of sensory information. Our eyes met in disbelief at the process and rolled upwards in solidarity worship of these master craftsmen.

Next the rice bran was prepared with lime and water to perfect the elasticity of the paste.

The paste used to size the boards has no bran. The motions took us a while to understand and will take hours of practice to really get.

I soaked soybeans overnight in water and then smushed them in this mortar. The juice was strained out and then mixed with a red pigment and some pine soot.

We will make hanten festival jackets but first needed to practice on cheap cotton to get the technique for painting on the pigments and then resisting the colours and dipping to get an indigo background. 

We are up late tonight designing and cutting stencils for use tomorrow. It has been a long day. We were up early harvesting indigo this morning. Looks like an exceptionally good crop this year. Thanks to all the sunshine and manure. The sun and a slight breeze helped dry out the leaves to a dark blue in a few hours. The smell of drying indigo is sublime.

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.