In store - Katagami Stencils

I've just put quite a lot  of these  ‘miyako yuzen katagami’ in the shop and on my website . They date from the mid- 20^th century and were sold in sets , sometimes with a frame,   for use at home or possibly  by small home-based textile businesses.  Like all katagami  they’re made  from Japanese paper treated with persimmon tannin to prevent rotting.   The designs are relatively simple  and apparently were often cut  by young,  less-experienced craftsmen who would cut around  ten sheets at a time.  They measure 26.5cm x 45cm. They’re  in excellent, sturdy  condition and are  suitable for  use  as stencils  or for framing, covering lamps etc. 

potd - Kamon Katagami

I've started putting out these beautiful little kamon  katagami stencils. They  probably date from the late 19th century (going on the packets they're in). Each one is about 6cm  square and they've been used to stencil kamon (family crests) on to formal  garments. Many of them have been cut from old book pages and they've been treated with persimmon tannin which  gives them the brown colour and makes them waterproof.   I'm putting them out in sets of  four ($22)  with each design identified. I've been having fun looking  up what each one is. This is only a small sample.

potd - Katagami

Small katagami paper stencils

potd - Chidori Stencil

Small chidori (plover) katagami stencil...

POTD - Katagami Bat

This is a very small katagami stencil. The brown comes from persimmon tannin which is used to stop the paper rotting. Bat motifs come up very rarely  and I've only ever seen them on old indigo katazome (stencil-resist dyed) and kasuri (ikat) cotton.

Katagami stencils

Here are some katagami stencils from my collection, including some of the stencils which I used images from in my last newsletter. These stencils are made from layers of washi paper which are treated with persimmon tannin and smoked to make them waterproof and durable. They are then finely cut by hand and in more open patterns fine silk threads are added between the layers of paper to stabilise the design.  Katagami stencils are used in a variety of  Japanese textile traditions including yuzen dyeing which usually involves building up a design with a selection of  stencils and colours in combination with other techniques,  komon ( 'small pattern') and chugata  ('medium stencil') kimono fabrics,  and indigo-dyed katazome (lit.stencil dyed) futon cover fabrics.  What these techniques have in common is the use of a rice-paste resist applied through a stencil either with a brush or special spatula.
These stencils all date from late-19th - early 20th century.  Most will have been used on kimono fabrics but the first one at least would more likely  have been used on an indigo futon cover. The rope and anchor designs were often used separately on futon covers which were part of a trousseau, as an alternative to the more traditional marriage imagery such as cranes, pines or turtles.
You can click on any of the images for a closer look.