A Length of Unusual Katazome Dyed Cotton: Interesting Content and Form

early twentieth century
50 1/4" x 13 1/4", 127.5 cm x 33.5 cm

This length of katazome dyed cotton was stenciled on both its sides in order to achieve a white-on-blue pattern of sharp clarity. In order to get a super crisp image the registration of the stencils needs to be exact.

In this case there are some "mistakes" which we can see as slightly blurred edges or a bit of stray blotching.

Stranger still is that the top half of this length shows the pattern as sort of "scrambled" or broken as compared to the bottom half of the cloth which shows the pattern as it was meant to be. Very curious!

This is an interesting pattern even without the mysterious scrambling: it is said to represent a plant called tsuyu-gusa whose blue flowers yield a fugitive dye that is used as a marker for dyeing of cloth.

Because the color extracted from these flowers is weak it can be used as a guide during the dyeing process. It will then easily wash out and disappear thus leaving no trace on the finished, fully dyed textile.

Lucky for us the tsuyu-gusa plant is so lyrical when interpreted as a repeat pattern. This length shows a rarely seen pattern which is a delight for the eyes.

Recommended.