Tokyo Fine-Pattern Dyeing The production of a Tokyo fine-pattern dyed cloth, right from the mixing of the color resist through to the drying and finishing of the cloth, all takes place at the same workshop. What of course characterizes this cloth is its extremely fine pattern. The stencil of some 20 cm is not even slightly out of register over the entire length of the approximately 12 meters long base cloth. If the stencil was slightly out of register a line would appear in the pattern and the cloth would be rendered unsalable. It is the responsibility of the expert dyeing the cloth to make sure that what the stencil cutter was hoping to achieve is carried through. Both of these skilled craftsmen work as a team and set about creating a fine piece of Tokyo fine-pattern dyed cloth. This page uses QuickTime. To download click on the icon. Stage One Click on the picture for QuickTime Movie Stencil Cutting: Two or three sheets of good quality handmade Japanese paper are bonded together using persimmon tannin. It is then the job of the stencil cutter, using such fine cutting tools as a kiri with a half moon profile, small sharp knives and other tools that he has fashioned himself to cut out the extremely fine patterns. This work is mainly done near Ise in Mie prefecture. Stage Two Color Resist: It is the color resist which greatly influences the quality of the dyeing. Basically speaking there are two kinds of color resist, one for the background color and the other for the fine pattern. To make these resists, a little salt is added to a mixture of rice bran and rice flour made from a very glutinous form of rice. This is then steamed. The resulting 'dough' is then well kneaded before the dyestuff is added and a test dyeing is carefully carried out. The dyestuff comprises several types of chemical dye mixed together. Although information on color mixing has been digitized of late, the skill and sense of an experienced person is still needed to make the final color adjustments. Stage Three Click on the picture for QuickTime Movie Stenciling: First of all the base cloth is stretched out on a seven-meter long fir board. The stencil is then laid on the cloth and a rice-paste resist is applied with a cypress wood spatular. The resist passes through the stencil and effectively prevents those parts of the cloth to which the resist is applied from being dyed. Performing this operation over the approximately 12 meter length of cloth with perfect registration and without fault in the pattern is the most taxing stage in the production of one of these fine-pattern dyed cloths. Each stencil must be matched and the work processed all the time matching the small registration mark at the side of the stencil. Being made of Japanese paper the stencil can easily become dry, so it must sometimes be wetted. If the stencil paper was allowed to become too dry, the size of the registration mark would change and the pattern would go out of register. Stage Four Drying: After stenciling, the rice-paste resist is allowed to dry on the cloth, which is left stretched on its board. If a multicolored pattern is to be dyed the stenciling process is repeated. Doing this makes it possible to produce really vivid patterns. Stage Five Background Dyeing: When the rice-paste resist is dry the cloth is removed from its board and a resist paste containing a dyestuff is spread evenly over the whole of the cloth with a large brush in order to dye the background color. Stage Six Steaming: Before the background color resist is dry, the cloth is put in a steaming box and steamed for 15 to 30 minutes at 90°-100°C. How much the cloth is steamed is a matter of experience and is done in order to fix the dyestuff in the color resist to the cloth. Stage Seven Washing: The steamed cloth is now well washed in water to remove the resist and any excess dye. One of the reasons that dyeing shops sprang up beside the Kanda river in Tokyo was because of the plentiful supply of suitable water for washing these cloths the river provided. Stage Eight Drying: The rinsed cloth is now stretched out with steam and dried, and thoroughly checked for any flaws.