Katazome-Shi Paper • 1/24/06
I saw these wonderful stencil-dyed sheets of paper featured over at the Paper Mojo site today. They are based on techniques developed in Japan and are called “Katazome-Shi” paper. What exactly is Katazome-Shi?
I looked up several definitions of it online. Basically, it is a technique of stenciling paper that involves the application of some kind of paste (usually rice flour based) through a prepared stencil. The stencil is usually made out of a particular paper called Kozo which is a fiber that comes from mulberry trees and is very popular in papermaking in Japan.
This paper is first treated with persimmon tannin, and then a stencil of the overall design is cut into the paper. Then, I believe they use the paste in order to block out the sections of the stencil that they don’t want color transfered onto. They do each color one at a time. This seems similar to silkscreening, and I have also read that it is similar to how kimonos were made traditionally.
Apparently, this is a pretty labor intensive way of making paper, so the availability of the paper is spotty and it isn’t exactly cheap. But the brilliant and vibrant patterns it can produce seem worth it. Pictured here is one of the papers from the Katazome-shi collection that Paper Mojo carries. This one is called Orange Lotus and features orange and red blossoms that have black centers. The site said that the paper is a Kozo and Sulfite mix (I am actually not sure if the paper is textured, but I’m putting in that category anyhow). These beautiful pieces of paper are sold as half sheets of 18.5 by 24 inches and cost $10 each! If you’ve got some really special uses for it, however, it just might be worth it.
February 8th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Hi - Just thought I would leave a quick note about the katazome-shi papers. “Katazome-shi” literally means stencil-dyed (katazome) papers (-shi) and they are printed on a kozo/sulphite base paper but are not textured. They actually have a lovely flat/matte quality to them that is part of their charm. The pictures do not do them justice! Thanks, Heather
February 11th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Hi, I’d love to know more about this process. The papers I’ve seen have an really nice effect where the colours seem to shift a bit around the stencils as they are printed - as if multiple colours were inked up at the same time. It reminds me of the results you get with Print Gocco machines, but on a much larger scale!
If Katazome-shi or Wazome stencil printing is like silkscreening, do they press the ink through the screen rather than swiping it with one colour?
Thanks