The use of stencils to transfer imagery and pattern to
fabric and paper is used traditionally all around the world, in many different
cultures, and is a fore runner to screen-printing. What makes the Japanese stencils stand out in
particular is their incredible intricacy and detail, so much so that the
stencil itself could be a beautiful piece of art, without it being used for its
intended purpose.
In Japan, stencils were used to apply rice-paste to un-dyed
fabric. The design would be transferred to the cloth by pushing the paste
through the holes gently with a large soft brush. When the paste had dried, the
fabric was then dyed in indigo. When
dry, the paste would be soaked off, revealing the colour of the un-dyed fabric
under the indigo, in the pattern of the stencil. These designs ranged from one colour, and
therefore one stencil layer, all the way to detailed patterns that involved the
transferral of many layers of the design separately, using different dyes,
similar to the way an image is created in many colours in screen printing.
It is always interesting to place a stencil over a pattern
or textured surface. It creates windows and eyelets that divide the pattern
underneath into sections, changing the overall look of the surface, by
combining the two different designs. It
was this aspect of the use of stencils that intrigued me. Finding throughout this project that I was
constantly questioning the difference between an illustrator and a pattern
designer, the use of stencils allowed me to impose my own drawings on to my
collaged pattern surfaces. I was
interested also in the combination of two entirely different patterns, and the
way they clashed or complimented each other.
