John’s Art – Pick of the Week: Japanese Warrior Prints
While I was in Japan in the mid ’70′s, I was assistant to Kunio Ekiguchi, author of many books on traditional paper
arts. It was fun working for him because he always had a wide variety of
projects going on at any given time and they all required research which
entailed leafing through old books for ideas. I was in seventh heaven!
During that time I developed a fondness for a style of Japanese cartooning that
was popular in the mid-1800′s and earlier. These were rather cheap block prints printed in black ink, and
sometimes with a few minor colors washed in afterward. Presented here are a few
samples of warriors I have dyed in this style.
To start with, I drew a sketch of the warrior I wanted to portray. Then cut a
stencil from hand-made mulberry paper that had been lacquered with persimmon
tannin and smoked.
This stencil was then used to apply a rice paste resist made of rice bran (小紋糠) and powdered sweet rice (餅粉).
Notice how the pasted areas correspond to the holes in the stencil. The paste
will prevent the areas they cover from being dyed until later.
Lacquered Warrior Stencil
I prepared a blue dye using what is called indigo bloom (藍花), is made from the bubbles on top of an indigo vat. To this I added some ivy
berry juice and stained the cloth by applying the colors with a brush.
Rice Paste Applied to Silk
Over this I applied a very concentrated version of the indigo bloom to the
outlines of the figure. And over that some concentrated soot mixed with
soymilk.
Indigo and Ivy Applied with Brush
The dyes need to cure, so I set the fabric aside for about two months and then
washed off the paste to reveal the design.
Indigo and Soot Applied to Outlines
Now that the paste is gone, I can go back in and dye the face, clothing, and
weapons. I used a very thin wash of soot, another of indigo, and some of rust
to give the piece a little life.
Silk with Pate Removed
Finished Piece with Touch of Gold Added
One of the qualities of the rustic block prints that I liked so much was the way
in which the colors look as though they have been applied casually or
spontaneously–often reaching well beyond the borders of the item being colored. I tried to
emulate this effect with my dyes and brushes.
In the end, I decided to put two tiny dots of gold on the hand guards to bring
out some of the colors.
To view a wider range of these designs, click on any of the warrior figures
above, and you’ll be taken to my sales gallery.
Carving stencils, making the paste, and dyeing work such as you see above are
all covered in any of my katazome classes. Check out my Calendar of Events on my web page by clicking on this text, or take a look a the classes I’ll be offering in my studio this summer in Covelo, CA.
This is the haori that found its way to me after so many years.
When it finally arrived in my studio I wasted no time placing the treasured
stencil over the dyed image and…it was a perfect fit! It must have been dyed using my stencil, or one that was
carved at the same time by the same artist. I was ecstatic!
This is how my life seems to go – in series of recurrences, on going reminders of kindnesses received.
