An Old Katagami or Katazome Stencil: Writing and Selective Color
late nineteenth, early twentieth century
15 1/2" x 10 1/4", 39.5 cm x 26 cm
A katagami is a hand cut stencil that is used as a guide to apply rice paste to the surface of cloth when dyeing in the katazome method.
Katagami are made of paper that has been saturated with green persimmon tannin or kaki shibu and then smoked for added durability.
This one is unusual in the fact that recycled paper was used to create this stencil: by looking at the accompanying detail photo you can easily see the good amount of handwriting that can be seen through the haze of green persimmon tannin dye or kaki shibu that was used to strengthen the paper and which gives it a brown color.
The design on this one is not a repeat pattern but instead it is one image that is isolated on the larger page. The offset pattern which surrounds this image is seen in black dye and comes from another stencil that came into contact with this one.
This is a charmingly attractive old stencil with a great deal of character and visual appeal. Please note the torn or irregular edges, top and bottom.