Textiles produced as part of the research for
the 'Katagami in Practice: Japanese stencils in the Art school' Arts Council England project, using traditional Japanese katazome techniques with stencil paper
and rice paste. Stencils were cut by hand and used to print rice paste
onto a variety of cottons and silks. The dried rice paste acts as a
resist, preventing penetration of dye where it has been applied. The
samples were dyed with a range of dyestuffs including indigo and modern fibre
reactive dyes. Once dying had taken place, the rice-paste resist was
washed out in water, leaving a white pattern on a coloured ground. Sarah
explored these techniques and also documented the process in detail as part of
the development of a workshop for students from Middlesex University. Her
documentation aimed to capture the distinctive learning that is produced from
making - for instance practical understandings of how unfamiliar design
languages are assimilated through drawing and making; how a stencil needs to be
cut in order to be durable; and how the structural requirements of a stencil
produce a distinctive design aesthetic.