Having chosen this theme, I started having fun with puns and associations. Below is what I came up with as my finished piece, The Goddess of Ebb and Flow.  I will have this doll on display at the instructors exhibit at Convergence in Long Beach, July, 2012.

The face is constructed of wood and paper clay, with an overlay of powdered seashell (gofun 胡粉) mixed with pigments. The surging waves that make up her hair were done with spray insulation over a chopstick armature. The textiles are all fabrics I have dyed using natural dyes on silk, katazome with rice paste resist.

Shiodoki 潮時 Back

From the back you can see two kanzashi hair ornaments. The one to the upper left, above, is constructed of cloisonné and coral, and the one to the lower left of the hair is in the form of a jellyfish. The jellyfish is constructed of the plastic lid to a slurpy for the hood, an oven light bulb for the stomach pouch, Austrian crystal for the tentacles and oral arms, and Chinese cloisonné for the interior eye spots.

Time and Tide Kimono, Natural Dyes on Silk by John Marshall

The primary kimono is traditionally dyed and sewn, with padding at the hem, and the design dyed to match at all seams.  The weave is rinzu (綸子) – a jacquard woven with a pattern of waves, over which I dyed a pattern of surging waves and the inner workings of a stop watch. The lining is safflower-dyed momi (紅絹).

Detail of Center Back Crest 「潮」

Above is a detail of the back, showing the crest. The crest mimics the one found on the fisherman’s robe, below. The character shio (潮) means tide. Notice the seam down the center back.

Maiwai Depicting Urashima Tarou on His Way Home from the Dragon King's Palace

Above is a miniature version of a fisherman’s robe called a maiwai (万祝) and can most easily be seen in the back view of the figure at the top of this page. It is falling off her shoulder and trailing behind in a casual air. In this case the proportions have been distorted slightly to allow for better drape on the doll. The fabric is silk crepe dechine with a traditional cotton lining.

Detail of Urashima Tarou Maiwai

The image on the maiwai depicts Urashima Tarou as he leaves the Dragon King Palace at the bottom on the ocean. [Urashima Tarou saved a sea tortoise from the tortures of young children along the shore. He was later rewarded for his kindness by being escorted to the Dragon King's Palace, where he was luxuriously entertained. Eventually he grew homesick and was given a special tamatebako box to take as  parting gift.] Shown above is the Dragon King Palace in the background, Urashima Tarou with his fishing pole in hand, and the tamatebako on his back, as he bids one final farewell to his hosts and he rides the ancient sea tortoise back to his homeland.

Below is an diagram of some of the iconography used in this piece.

Detail Showing the Rabbit on the Moon

A. Surging waves form the coiffed hair. Spray foam insulation, spray paint, and mica.

B. Fisherman’s float used to hold nets up when cast into the ocean. Hand-blown glass.

C. Jellyfish kanzashi (hair ornament), constructed of the plastic lid to a slurpy for the hood, an oven light bulb for the stomach pouch, Austrian crystal for the tentacles and oral arms, and Chinese cloisonné for the interior eye spots.

D. In the West we traditionally perceive a man on the moon in the shadows of the craters, whereas in Asian cultures the shadows are seen as a rabbit pounding mochi (rice cakes). And of course, the moon has a major influence on our goddess’s activities. Paper clay, glass, and porcelain.

E. Han’eri (decorative collar) gold leafed with pattern of rock crabs. Gold on silk.

F. Obi woven with a pattern of a dragon, king of the ocean. Silk.

Detail Showing the Pearl That Controls the Tides

G. Crystal orb that controls the tides (also often depicted as a pearl). Crystal.

H. Maiwai fisherman’s robe (described above).

I. Kosode kimono woven in silk with a leno weave (karamiori) pattern of surging waves.

Detail Showing Time Caught in the Tide

J. Time acting as an anchor, trapped in the gripping flow of the waves. 1950s Buluva clock.

The base of the doll is a redwood burl.

For a schedule of John’s classes and programs, check out the calendar of events on his web page.

Poster advertising meisen.

So now let’s take a look at meisen (銘仙). The average person on the street in Japan will recognize meisen as what we call ikat. However, meisen may also be a solid color fabric, or woven entirely with undyed, unbleached yarns. So actually, meisen is the weave and kasuri is the dye method.

Meisen is a moderately light-weight silk weave with a hard, smooth touch (sometimes with a slub) – not at all unlike what is sold as silk pongee.

Kasuri is the dye technique employed – in which the threads are dyed with sections of color that will later line up to form pattern in the meisen (or other weaves). With me so far?

Notice that I didn’t say anything about tie dyeing the yarns for kasuri as part of the definition. Binding groups of warp and/or weft threads to control  colors (tie dye) is indeed one way to produce kasuri threads. The verb kasuru means to steal away a bit of something, or as the old kanji (飛白) helps us to understand, leaping bits of blank. Basically, any method employed to dye the threads used in weaving to create a Morse-code-like pattern of long and short dashes that will later be lined up to make a pattern or image, qualifies as kasuri. This may include paste resist applied with stencils, block-printed images, hand painted warp and weft, and even silk screening.

Let’s take a closer look at the silk-screen method. Traditional forms of screen dyeing in Japan are called nassen (捺染). [If you have interest in this process I would recommend taking a class from Akemi Nakano Cohn - a long time practitioner and teacher of this art.] In nassen color is pushed through a stencil. When nassen is used to apply color to threads to later be woven, it is called hogushi-nassen (ほぐし捺染). Let’s next take a look at how this technique is applied.

Preparing warp threads by winding onto a large drum prior to dyeing.

First filament silk is reeled onto a large drum to prepare the warp threads for dyeing (left). The warp is threaded onto a special loom and very coarsely woven – notice how greatly spaced the weft is as it holds the warp threads in place (below).

Warped loom with loosely woven weft in monofiliment silk.

This loosely woven yardage is removed from the loom and rolled out onto a printing table.

Screening the warp threads.

In the screening process dyes may be brushed through the screens/stencils, or the dyes may be added to a thickener and pushed through the screens with a squeegee as seen above.

Removing the thin weft threads before returning the warp to the loom.

Once the dyeing is complete, the warp threads will be returned to the loom, but before doing so, the previously woven weft threads must be removed. [If you are interested in trying your hand at this technique, I do have a very good supply of the fine threads used to weave the temporary weft, contact me for more details.]

Warped loom ready to have the real weft woven in.

The warped loom is now ready to be woven with the new weft threads. This time they will be firmly beat into tight alignment.

The pull you see hanging from the center of the image to the left is yanked to send the shuttle flying left and right. For an example of this type of loom in action, click here to watch a YouTube clip.

If you have followed the earlier blogs dealing with other kasuri techniques, you can easily see how this printing process allows the craftsperson to greatly speed up production time. This brought down the price and soon meisen-gasuri became one of of the most popular techniques for nice, everyday wear among women.

Penguins on ice flow.

Because of the relatively quick turn-around time, patterns began to reflect images of current events and more fad-oriented popular motifs. The example shown to the right is reflective of the craze for the South Pole as exploration of the new continent progressed in the 1950s.

Goofey and Donald depicted on meisen fabric used in a haori.

Disney was also making great inroads into Japanese culture, and the country’s love of the characters may be seen in this meisen piece from the late 1940s.

Are you up for a little musical entertainment? Take a look at this video on YouTube. The song is called The Color of Life and is performed by The Six Singing Women (唄う六人の女). Most of the textiles shown in the video are meisen.

This week’s Textile of the Week, 201219, is a fanciful image full of wonderful movement of line. It is handwoven and originally part of a kimono worn as casual wear by middle and upper-class women, or as formal wear by lower-class women.

Textile of the Week, 201219, Meisen-Gasuri

For more examples of meisen-gasuri, check out the samples in Treasures from John’s Collection: Meisen-Gasuri 銘仙絣.

One final bit of history: I thought you might want to know just a bit more about the development of meisen, so I have translated the following text from Dankousha’s 1987 publication,  the Unabridged Dictionary of Colors, Dyes, and Weaves (原色染織り大辞典・談交社・昭和五十二年). The original text in its entirety is below the English section.

Meisen is one version of the flat weave. It had its beginnings in the later part of the Edo Period, at which time it was written with* a variety of characters, including 目千 (lit. “a thousand ends** per inch”), 目専 (lit. “specialty ends**”), 蠒繊 (lit. “ultra fine cocoons“), and so on. Meisen is woven in the general region of Chichibu and Isezaki using yarns called tama-ito (a thick, seasonal raw silk) and noshi-ito (silk thrums) to weave a very strong, thick cloth used in every-day clothes. From the Meiji Period onward the characters most commonly used came to be 銘撰 (lit. “precious selection“)and 銘仙 (lit. “precious enchantment“), and with them a variety of innovations in quality and methods of weaving. Up until the Meiji Period the patterns were mostly stripes. However, with the advent of the Taisho Period, new forms of dyeing appeared such as shimekirigasuri (締切絣), yokosougasuri (縦総絣), nassengasuri (捺染絣), chingasuri (珍絣), and hodushigasuri (解し絣), quickly developing into more and more complex methods and with them the ability to consider vastly more complex imagery. With filament silk as the warp, other threads were introduced into the weave through the weft – threads such as raw (spun) silk, rayon, and even nylon. Centers of production were to be found in Kyoto, Isezaki, Chichibu, Ashikaga, Kiryuu, and Hachiouji, as well as others. Up until the time of World War II, meisen was used mostly for the every-day clothes of women. In addition, it was also used for lining fabric, bedding covers, tanzen (padded garments worn by men indoors during the winter months), and zabuton covers – all of which kept demand high. However, beginning in 1955, wool and synthetics became widespread and meisen suddenly disappeared from the marketplace.

めいせん　銘仙　平織りの絹織物の一。江戸後期には目千・目専・蠒繊などの字をあてる。秩父・伊勢崎などで玉糸（節のある太い生糸）や熨斗糸（絹の屑糸の一種）を用いて織った丈夫な太織を指し、普段着に用いた。明治以後は銘撰・銘仙と書かれ、他質や織り方にさまざまの工夫が加わった。明治までは縞柄が主であったが、大正以降は締切絣・縦総絣・捺染絣・珍絣・解し絣等の絣の技術が複雑化し、模様物が考案された。他糸には経に絹糸，緯に玉糸を使用したものが最も多く、ほかに紡績絹糸・人絹糸・綿糸・ナイロン糸などを用いる。主な産地は京都・伊勢崎・秩父・足利・桐生・八王子など。第二次世紀大戦頃まで、おもに女性の普段機に多く用いたほか、裏地・夜具地・丹前地・座ぶとん地などの需要が多かったが、昭和三十年代からウール・化学繊維の普及により急速に市場から姿を消した。

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*In this case I’ve translated あて字 (ateji) as “written with”.  Ateji is a linguistic custom in both China and Japan of assigning kanji to a word for poetic reasons, or to manufacture words that can’t otherwise be written in Chinese characters. For example, a friend of mine owns a store called SO•ME, or Dye. It would normally be written as 染め (so-me), and this is actually the only correct way of writing it. However, she wanted to add a little elegance and femininity to the name of her company, so she opted to write it 染女 (so-me), replacing the alphabetical め (me) with the kanji 女 (me), meaning woman, thus indicating a dye shop owned by a woman, and very classy sounding to boot!
So, in the examples sited for meisen, each of the names has forced kanji – kanji that are not normally read meisen but can be pushed into doing so and add a little elegance, definition, or attitude to the word at the same time.

**The character 目 is used in counting how fine a weave is. In Asia, they count the spaces between the threads within a specified square measurement, rather than the warp threads themselves. In American English we might say a weave has 500 ends per inch, which means that there are 500 warp threads within a linear inch. In Japan, if you said 500目, you would be saying that there are 500 gaps (holes/spaces) in the weave within a square centimeter.

Shinto Shrine

Meisen-Gasuri Haori, Image Depicts a Shinto Shrine

Detail of warp/weft meisen-gasuri.

Detail of warp/weft meisen-gasuri.

I’m fascinated by the manner in which this pattern repeats. It is a unique perspective and was woven as a repeating pattern – the pattern turns up-side-down as it goes over the shoulders to the front of the garment. Highly detailed and exquisitely executed.

Chrysanthemum Garden

Chrysanthemum Garden, Warp/Weft Meisen-Gasuri

The colors in this piece – strong, bold colors in the foreground and soft muted colors in the background – required many screens to achieve the subtle variations.

Chrysanthemum Garden, detail.

Hiroshige Print

Meisen-Gasuri Version of Hiroshige's Print

Block Print by Hiroshige

Above, left, is a dyed silk sample of meisen-gasuri reproducing the famous block print by Hiroshige, Monkey Bridge by Moonlight. To the right is the print itself.

Detail of Travelers Crossing Bridge

Register Marks on Right Selvage Edge

Notice in the detail above, to the above right, the short blue markings. I’ve enlarged them here, to the right for you. These are register marks in the selvage that help the weaver to line up the threads properly and keep the image from blurring beyond recognition.

Text Inserted into Framed Meisen-Gasuri Sample

The text shown here appears within the framed section of the fabric, attached to the gold mat. It states that the fabric is silk, and that the threads were dyed beforehand to be woven as kasuri fabric. Further states that the weaver is a member of the Japan Handweavers Preservation group.

Aoi, by Cheryl Lawrence

Aoi by Cheryl Lawrence, Katazome-Meisen-Gasuri

And this final piece, one of my all time favorites, was woven by Cheryl Lawrence of Washington State.

Years ago, Michele Wipplinger asked me to teach a class to weavers wishing to do katazome dyeing on warps. Cheryl Lawrence was one of the many talented weavers in that first group. She went on to experiment and make the process her own. The sample to the left is one such piece.

FRONT: BR-100 Quintsai's Dragon Coat. Natural dyes on silk jacquard by John Marshall.

Every hand technique has its peculiar needs to achieve its own unique look. In katazome a great deal of expense and effort is expended to create stencils. But it is a worthwhile investment. If properly cared for, the stencils will remain a useful tool far beyond my lifetime. When my katazome teacher, Matsuyo Hayashi, died I inherited her collection of stencils which included some of her teacher’s stencils.

In most cases an artist will only create a stencil if he or she plans to use it repeatedly, otherwise most will opt for variations on the tsutsugaki technique, which makes use of the rice paste without the stencil.

Most Japanese fabric is woven in what is called tanhaba (反巾), about 14″ wide for kimono. So you’ll find that most traditional stencils are about this wide, too. In most styles of katazome the image or pattern is complete in itself, that is, multiple stencils are not generally used to create a single image.  But so what? Not everyone uses 14″ width fabric. Furthermore, as artists we are certainly allowed to follow our own paths!

BACK: BR-100 Quintsai's Dragon Coat. Natural dyes on silk jacquard by John Marshall.

So, this is what I have for you today: A large writhing dragon superimposed over a background of repeating dragon circles. The background imagery was inspired by the patterns found on the ceilings of many large Buddhist temples. And the writhing dragon?

Take a peek again at the Dragon depicted in my earlier posting of St. George and the Virgin Icon. Look carefully and you may be able to see that it is the same dragon.

Knowing that I would want to use this image in many different ways, I decided to break up my original drawing into many different segments. To do this, I had to fall back upon the experience I gained in plumbing my studio. When working with pipes, a basic thing to know is that you can get from any point a to any point b as long as you have 90º  and 45º fittings. Some straight lengths of pipe, caps, and maybe even a T or two will cover all your needs.

Basic Concept Behind Dragon Stencils

I started out by drawing a very large dragon circle and then divided it in half and carved two separate stencils. I was careful to make sure that the two halves of the body would match perfectly when rejoined during the pasting process. In plumbing terms each half is a 180º bend, and the head and tale are caps. Next I cut the tail section in my drawing in half to create a 90º stencil. So with only a cap (the head) and one 90º angle (used three times for the body in the sample above) and an end cap (the tail) I am able to create the undulations you see above. Of course the wider range of angles you add, the greater flexibility you will have in wrapping your dragon around a shape as I have done.

View of Inside Sleeve with Dragon Peeking Out

For a bit of fun, I decided to tuck the head into the sleeve of the garment, allowing it to peek out with a mischievous smile as the mood strikes it.

Compound Color Tateyokogasuri

This is a wonderfully slick, tightly woven silk with a high luster. The warp threads are black and white. The weft threads are multiple colors with small flecks of black. This would have been worn as an every day, but very nice, kimono for a woman. The fabric is a little too heavy for meisen (which will be discussed in a future posting).

Compound Color Tateyokogasuri Close Up

Ooshima (大島) is a region that specializes in mud dyed ikats. It is so famous that this fabric goes by the region’s name alone. Below is a typical example of Ooshima.

Ooshima Tsumugi

Ooshima also specializes in the use of a silk yarn with a slight slub called tsumugi. As is so often the case with Japanese terms, tsumugi can be used to refer to yarns made in several different ways. Ooshima tsumugi (大島紬), however, is most often woven with threads making use of carded silk or mawata (真綿). This particular sample has a very sensual, corn starchy sort of feel to it as you run your fingers across the surface.

Ooshima Tsumugi Close Up

Chijimi (縮み) means shrunk. However, in this case crinkled might be a better translation. The warp is an extremely fine yarn and the weft yarns are over spun.

Tateyokogasuri Silk Chijimi Close Up

Both the warp and the weft are dyed as a variation of  kagasuri (蚊絣). The fabric has a slightly sandy feel to it, although very light and airy. It is unlined and would have been worn as a woman’s summer kimono.

Tateyokogasuri Silk Chijimi Detail

I have to laugh at myself–so often I will find a beautiful example of a textile and subconsciously determine the fiber or the weave/dye techniques employed without actually making an attempt to verify my conclusions. Writing about these textiles has forced me to examine them closely, often to my surprise.

I have many tateyokogasuri pieces, especially those that fall within the general category of kagasuri. In examining many of them for this article I found that they are not truly kasuri after all but excellent imitations! In my next blog I will give you a few tips to help in determining the difference.

Warped loom sporting warp and weft dyed threads in indigo.

So far we have covered tategasuri (warp ikat 縦絣 ) and yokogasuri (weft ikat 横絣). So what happens when you combine them? This technique is simply, generically, called tateyokogasuri (warp/weft ikat 縦横絣) and allows for some of the most complex types of ikat you will find. Within this generic branch are many styles. All are a combination of the techniques we have covered so far. Let’s take a look at one of my favorites – kagasuri (蚊絣).

Bolt of kagasuri (蚊絣).

Ruler indicating the scale of marking on yarn.

While on the surface kagasuri (蚊-ka means mosquito), seems to be among the simplest of warp/weft ikat, it is the very size and simplicity that makes it an amazing feat of calculations. Using the photo above as a reference, it is easy to see how the style acquired its name.

To achieve the required level of precision, tedious measurements are calculated and plotted. Some dyers use graph-like grids, others make do with simply a ruler and good eyesight.

Bamboo instrument used to mark threads.

When a white background is desired, small bundles of yarn are gathered and minute marks dyed, using a flat bamboo stick that looks a bit like a tongue depressor with a wedge-shape sharpened end to rub the dye into the fiber.

When planning a dyed background, the same type of bundle is  prepared as described above.

Tying off the bundle at the marked points.

However,  in this case the marks are not used to dye the yarns but to indicate the points at which the bundle is to be tied off.

Comparing the tied sections to the original chart.

The dyer must constantly compare the markings and the tied segments to the original drawing for accuracy.

Once all the careful calculations have been made, and all the tiny spots tied off, the bundles are gathered and dyed in the same manner as in tategasuri and yokogasuri.

Bundles dyed and ready to be untied in anticipation of a visit tot he loom.

During the weaving process itself, the craftsman must keep a sharp eye out for any distortions in the dyed pattern. If the dyer has been sloppy, there isn’t a whole lot that may be done. However,  in most cases the weaver is able to make minor adjustments in how the dyed weft dots match up with the warp dots by pulling a bit to the right or left and leaving the excess yarn to dangle at the selvage.

Weft threads left extended beyond the selvage edge to help adjust the line up of the pattern in the weave.

In addition, adjustments may be made vertically by varying the intensity with which the weft is beat into place.

Completed kagasuri with dyed background.

Tateyokogasuri allows for a wide range of complex and visually delicious designs. This week I have selected two very different samples for you.

Tateyokogasuri Sample 201217

The sample above is a vintage piece from a woman’s very nice, but not formal,  kimono. While the dye technique is tateyokogasuri, the weave should be called omeshi (御召). For all intents and purposes, omeshi is an even faced weave. However it’s unique texture is derived from the use of over-spun yarns in both the warp and the weft. I will be discussing omeshi in greater depth at a later time.

Sample 201217-kagasuri $14 plus postage and tax ($12 even if purchased as part of a set. For more information about sets, click on this text.)

The sample below splendidly represents kagasuri (蚊絣). It is handwoven in silk with a white background and was originally designed to be used in a young man’s summer kimono. In this case, kagasuri may be considered the dye technique and the structure is a weave the Japanese call koubai (勾配) which will be discussed at a later time.

Kagasuri Sample 201218

Sample 201218-kagasuri $14 plus postage and tax ($12 even if purchased as part of a set. For more information about sets, click on this text.)

In honor of the Year of the Dragon, I’ve decided to share a piece I dyed called Theft of the Virgin Icon, featuring St. George and the Dragon.

Theft of the Virgin Icon by John Marshall

The back view features The Virgin Mary holding an Icon of Herself,  atop the broad shoulders of Michael the Archangel (making an Appearance in the guise of St. George). The Dragon has snatched the Icon from the Virgin and is making his get away as St. George readies himself. Along the bottom is a host of Coptic Deities worrying in Circles the outcome of the Conflict. At St. George’s feet are found Fiddleheads symbolizing the unfolding of Events about to take place.

Detail of Michael-as-George, Natural Dyes on Silk Tussah with Machine Top Stitching

I’ve chosen to depict Michael-as-George a bit beyond the first (or second) blush of youth. As we follow the imagery around to the front,

Front View of Theft of the Virgin Icon

we come upon the three Saintly United Nation Observers, hands clasped in Divine NonIntervention.

The Virgin Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands

In the end, the Virgin saves herself by taking flight.

Divine NonIntervention

The piece has been dyed entirely with natural dyes on silk. Multiple stencils have been used to apply the rice-paste resist.

I do the designing and construction myself along with the top stitching in silk thread.

The buttons follow the curve of the collar shape, the front is designed so that the imagery overlaps to keep the motif continuous and uninterrupted.

I carried the dragon theme through to the inside with the label, which is stitched to the heavy silk satin lining.

$4800

Label to Theft of the Virgin Icon by John Marshall

Minute Landscape Executed in Yokogasuri Dyeing Technique

I’ve placed a penny in the image to give you a sense of scale. Below is a detail of the same shot.

Detail of Above Image

Both images above are details from a kosode (小袖) style kimono, unlined (hitoe 一重), silk in a tsumugi (紬) weave with a Shantung-like texture. Neither of the photos show the full width, nor even one full repeat of the pattern. Isn’t it amazing?

And next we have the opposite extreme – a multi-colored large scale example of yokogasuri on silk. Again, a kosode kimono.

Full Shot of Back of Kimono Dyed in Yokogasuri Style (Meisen)

Notice how the pattern has been designed to allow it to flow across the seams of the garment. Below you will be able to examine the pattern in detail since I’ve included one full repeat. This type of dyeing, while still legitimately yokogasuri, does not involve tying off the bundles of threads as discussed elsewhere. Instead the colors are screened onto the weft threads before they are woven, in essence allowing for a far greater number of colors with much less production time. This process is called meisengasuri (銘仙絣), or simply meisen (銘仙). I’ll be discussing it in greater depth in a later blog.

The image above displays one full repeat of the pattern , selvage to selvage.