Dyeing

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The International Impulse

The elaborate and opulent designs and patterns and colors of Japanese textiles are what have made them world famous. Traditional Japanese textile surface design is quite unique and immediately recognizable. This is due in some part to the two-dimensional nature of the kimono and how Japanese design proclivities for such a garment wrapped and embellished the human body. Even a brief glance at historical and contemporary kimono reveals that the various techniques of dyeing reached great heights of complexity and flexibility in Japan.

Unresisted Dyeing

Dyeing a fabric directly is of course the simplest and most obvious means of rendering color and design. Two methods were used in Japan: immersion dyeing and painting. The former involves dipping a textile in a dye, and the latter is brushing on color. Both may be taken to heights of complexity, with multiple dippings of given areas in numerous colors, and a textile used as a surface for the painting of an artist's dream. Block printing is another form of direct dyeing, but it never reached the heights in Japan that it did in other areas of Asia, particularly India and Indonesia. Both dipping and painting find their highest manifestation used in combination with one or more types of resist dyeing.

Resist and Resist and Resist

Japan's dyeing techniques center on two basic types of resist dyeing--paste resist (which includes stencil dyeing), and shaped resist (shibori). A resist is just what the word implies, a substance or process that stops dye from dyeing the fabric in certain places. (Wax resist was well developed in the 8th century, but had died out by the 10th and was revived in modern times.) Paste resist may be divided into freehand resist applied by a squeeze cone (Japanese: tsutsugaki) and stencil dyeing (katazome). The former is used most often in the technique known as yuzen, which usually incorporates other methods of embellishment, and in indigo folk textiles, while the latter is ubiquitous.

Shibori

"Shibori" is often translated "as tie-dye," but this easy label is far too limited. Shibori is a galaxy of resist techniques, all involving shaping the fabric in different ways then securing or binding it tightly so that dye does not affect the cloth where it is secured. The variety of techniques is truly astounding, varying from the familiar tie-dye to a wide range of stitched-and-bound techniques to winding and binding cloth to cores of different materials and sizes to folding and clamping between boards and the exotic and wonderful tub-stuffing resist. Though shibori is practiced in many other parts of the world, including techniques not found in Japan, and has historical importance, no single region has as many techniques as Japan. The serendipitous accidental effects that happen with shibori are part of the technique's charm and are particularly dramatic with cotton and indigo.

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Squeeze Cones

A paper cone stiffened and waterproofed with persimmon tannin is used to squeeze out rice paste onto a textile surface, delineating color areas and resisting other areas. The designs are entirely freehand, and the technical flexibility and freedom of expression are limited only by the craftsperson's own creativity. Indigo folk textiles such as quilt covers, hangings, and split curtains (noren), display complex, polychrome designs of felicitous motifs made with this technique.

Stencils

Japanese textile-dyeing stencils themselves are works of art and are collected. Their making and cutting is an independent craft, and stencil cutters have been designated "Living National Treasures" by the government. Simply, three sheets of the finest grade of handmade mulberry paper are coated and glued together with persimmon tannin, smoked for durability, aged, and then the designs are cut. Even the cutting tools are wonders of craftsmanship, and watching the cutting is like experiencing a form of music.

Rice-paste resist is applied through the stencils, which are removed, the cloth is then dyed, and the process is repeated as many times as desired. Removing the paste is done simply by washing (wax resist is much harder to remove). Amazingly delicate, minute patterns (komon) as well as bold design are both possible with stencils. The Okinawan bingata dyeing displays a complex use of stencils.

Yuzen

The name of this technique appears often in art books, but few adequate descriptions are found in English. One reason is because it is so complex; basically yuzen is a mixture of freehand paste resist and painting, and it also may include stencil and shibori work. The decorative flexibility possible with this combination of techniques is unsurpassed. Design motifs are first outlined in paste resist, then the dyes are applied in such a way as to give subtle gradation of tone. Both delicacy and extravagance are characteristic of yuzen, and traditional motifs and decorative concepts are most common. Embroidery and gold leaf application often finish a yuzen composition.

Creativity Abroad

Where traditional yuzen and shibori are declining in Japan due to the extreme expense of hand labor involved, these techniques have been readily adoped by textile and fiber artists in other countries for their expressive freedom and, with shibori, delightful accidental effects. An organization called the World Shibori Network has been formed of practicioners from over 21 countries. The 2nd International Shibori Symposium took place in late 1997 in Ahmedabad, India, and the 3rd Symposium will be held in Santiago, Chile in 1999. North America and Europe is now experiencing a shibori boom, with an increasing number of artists being attracted by the expressive power of this large family of techniques.