This post is part III of a series of posts on learning about dyeing katazome with indigo. It's the last post for now, until I can dye with indigo again in the spring and summer. It's common with indigo katazome to brush soymilk on after laying down paste. This does two things: it strengthens the paste, sharpening the edges by forming a protective layer, and also, it acts as sort of binder for the dye due to its protein content.

Here's a stencil with a simple but dynamic pattern of fish and falling plum blossoms. The artistic style seems very similar to the previous bats and gourds stencil, so I wonder if they're by the same artist. I've chosen to imagine this stencil in the colors of indigo pigment ink on fresh indigo.

This is a fun surizome stencil for fall. You can see the halo of ink where the stencil was rubbed. I don't know what color background the stencil originally was designed for, but I think green and black are an elegant and classic combination.

This stencil is a komon hanabishi pattern, with hundreds of thin lines cut very precisely to make abstract flowers.

This stencil depicts foliages (probably paulownia with some other plants mixed in) in a karakusa, or arabesque motif. I think it could work for all seasons in the right colors.

This feather-thin stencil has a delicate design of sasa, or bamboo grass. I can't tell if this pattern would be for summer or winter; bamboo stays green in winter, so it's often a winter motif, but the refreshing green leaves of sasa are a summer motif. Perhaps it depends how you color it! Either way, it's a symbol of vitality and strength.

This beautiful and unusual stencil features a woodgrain pattern, reinforced with ito-ire.

Last fall, I did some preliminary trials with different types of fabric pretreatments - soy, funori, and konjac. Konjac, a root vegetable, comes from the Okinawan tradition. Funori, a seaweed, is a very common pretreatment for fabric in katazome and its sister, sodum alginate, is often used for pretreatment and thickening in procion mx dye. Soy is used in the Japanese dyeing tradition for both sizing and pigment binding.

It's starter to get cooler, so I pulled out this late summer/early autumn stencil of bats and bottle gourds - classic prosperity motifs for the harvest. I'm not sure what the orientation is supposed to be, because there's a bat or a gourd upside down either way, so I just did my best. This stencil doesn't have any thread reinforcement. There's a small line that's damaged on the bamboo ring, but it's otherwise in good shape.

This stencil features sakura flowers inside Japanese style snowflakes, falling through matsuawabishi / まつかわびし [松皮菱] - pine bark diamond pattern. The matsukawabishi motif mimics the split pattern of Japanese pine bark. I'm not sure if this was a summer or winter motif, as snowflakes often show up on summer patterns to keep the wearer cool (the theory being that looking at cold things makes you feel cooler).

Here's a beautiful pattern for fall and winter; pinecones. You can also make dye out of pinecones, and now I think I maybe I want to try dyeing a pinecone pattern with pinecones. This stencil has ito-ire reinforcement and some wear and tear along the thin spikes, which is typical for older stencils with delicate designs.

This is one of a few fake kanoko stencils I have. It's meant to resemble kanoko shibori without the intense labour. It does a remarkably good job. Done with the actual paste, the reinforcement lines would disappear, and it would be even more convincing.

This is a very simple and elegant stencil of a Japanese water iris. It is cleverly cut to need no reinforcement. Because the design could be used for katazome or surizome, I have colored it both ways. Since there is no pigment on it, I suspect it was originally used for katazome.

This intricately cut stencil depicts chidori flying over rivers of water, with a pattern of some sort of flora between the rivers (Coral? Brush? Branches?). A refreshing motif that works for all seasons.

I wasn't sure which flower this was, but after asking some friends the consensus seems to be hydrangea vine, which I didn't even know could be a vine. This is a fine stencil for surizome or katazome. It features delicate thread reinforcement.

This stencil is an elaborate seven treasures (shippo) motif. It's intact except for a ragged corner. Interestingly, in addition to the interlocking circles traditionally associated with shippo, there are seven distinct kamon, too. I have colored the pattern as if it were surizome, but it was probably used for katazome because the lines are so delicate.

This beautiful stencil seems to represent some sort of abstract flower lace, though I am really not sure. Regardless, its pattern is undamaged despite being very delicate. I think it could be used for modern garments very easily.

This delicate stencil depicts snowflakes on bamboo shoots. This is probably an (early) spring stencil, since bamboo shoots appear around the same time as cherry blossoms, and the snowflakes would be a sign of the fading winter. I have digitally repaired the stencil and colored it so you can imagine how it might have looked, choosing a light green reminiscent of young bamboo.

This stencil is a komon stencil, with no reinforcement, and hundreds of tiny rabbits. It is actually too detailed to trace with the vector software, so I have recolored the raster. Just like in nature, every rabbit is unique.

My indigo crop is blooming early this year, so I decided to try some new techniques to salvage the harvest. I did a lot of trials of different types of stencil dyeing, and I have some still in the works, but I thought I'd share what worked so far. I've done a lot of surizome (direct rub dyeing through a stencil) with regular pre-reduced indigo, and I wondered if it was possible with fresh indigo.

This ito-ire reinforced stencil features a cool summer motif of frogs jumping through ripples of water.

This elegant stencil features snowflakes with plum blossom flurries. It's reinforced with ito ire.

If you're a katazome or textile artist and you're looking for more resources, like other stencil collections, other artists, or books, I have put together this small collection of resources that I often use in the hope that it is also useful to you. Stencil Collections Miki Somekatagami MK&G Collection Edo Tokyo Museum Harvard Art Museum The Met Museum The Smithsonian…

This refreshing stencil features fans made of cypress wood placed on coils of rope. I have restored the stencil into a vector so that the viewer can imagine its original appearance.