Item Details

A Book of Delightful & Curious Design: Being Over One Hundred Facsimile Illustrations of the Art of the Japanese Stencil-Cutter.

Stromness, Orkney: Vintage Paper Co., 2022. Limited Edition. Hardcover. "The title is adapted from the 1892 book of almost the same name published by Andrew Tate." [prospectus title page]
"Cyanotype prints made directly from original katagami decorative stencils from the collection of Vintage Paper Co., Stromness, Orkney.
Katagami: These stencils survive as artifacts from one of the most ancient crafts in Japan. Katagami stenciled textiles have been used to make patterns on cloth for hundreds of years until relatively recently. The craft has been dying out slowly over the twentieth century but persists in in a small way.
Stencil paper was constructed from the bark of the mulberry trees then treated with persimmon juice for up to two years to make them water-resistant. Patterns were then punch-, drill-, thrust-, and stripe-cut into the paper. The final stencil was used to apply rice starch through the stencil onto the cloth, leaving a pattern that would resist the dye.
Particularly fine and intricate stencils have the addition of a fine silk lattice to reinforce the string of the stencil. The threads are so fine that they do not show in the final printed cloth (though they often show in the cyanotype printing process used in this edition.). [prospectus]. Fine. Tight, bright, and unmarred.
Quarterbound, brown leather spine, in blind decorative elements at spine, printed brown paper boards, leather onlay label at front board, gilt lettering, 112 cyanotype prints on grey paper, one original katagami stencil. Oblong 4to. np. Illus. (colored plates). Large fold-out print tipped in at rear. Laid in prospectus. Limited edition of 12 copies. Item #11402

Price: $7,500.00