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Japanese Designs by Jenny Hermenze

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5/8/07

The Internet is abuzz with news on last night's Costume Institute Gala in honor of the Paul Poiret exhibition, according to Google Alert. (Google Alert is a very handy little feature on Google. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic.) 

Okay. My work on the shawls: In preparation, I applied a silk netting to one of my antique stencils. Heresy, perhaps, but now I can use it without fear of it ripping. I also had to do some repairs on the stencil I made last summer (the stencil inspired by an Erte illustration in a book I have on Poiret)

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Erte illustration
I love that leafy cluster in the background...and as a bonus, the illustration makes me think of the way grass feels on your bare feet when you go outside on a summer evening. 

In addition to work with the stencils, I scoured the lengths of silk chiffon, then stretched them on harite and shinshi (a Japanese stretching system, more on this another time)  and coated them with a very thin layer of soy milk. The soy milk acts as a sizing and a binder with the pigment to be applied. I then made rice paste, and pasted (using my stencils) as much as I could before I ran out. One shawl was entirely done.

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pasting the image
It was great katazome weather,  sunny and dry, and the paste dried fast. I was able to apply two layers of indigo pigment.
katazome
fabric on stretchers
 The shawls will now sit for a day or two while I work on other projects. The next step is to make more paste, then paste using my very fine antique stencil over the first two layers of indigo. Then more indigo on top. The original leaf clusters will stand out boldly against a much more subtle, tone on tone background of the finer stencil. The dyeing of this first shawl will be done, I hope, by the end of the week. Then hemming, fringing, and beading. And more shawls to do, in cochineal. 
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first coat of indigo

 
 
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