A Katagami Cut from Re-used Paper: Fanciful Octagons
$85.00 USD
late nineteenth, early twentieth century
10" x 14 1/4", 25.5 cm x 36 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 this.
Notice how there is evidence of cerulean blue dye on one side of the stencil. The stencil would have created a repeat pattern of fanciful octagons.
A small treasure to be sure. It is both charming and very rare to find.
