Katazome
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Katazome is a Japanese method of dyeing fabrics using a resist paste applied through a stencil. With this kind of resist dyeing, a rice flour mixture is applied, using a brush or palette-knife-like tool, to the cloth that will later be dyed by hand-painting or immersion or both. Where the paste mixture covers and permeates the cloth, dye applied later will not penetrate.
Katazome on thin fabrics shows a pattern through to the back; on thicker or more tightly woven fabrics, the reverse side is a solid color, usually indigo blue for cotton fabrics. Futon covers made from multiple panels of fabric, if the stencils are properly placed and the panels joined carefully, exhibit a pleasing over-all pattern in addition to the elements cut into the stencil.
One attraction of katazome was that it provided an inexpensive way for over-all patterns similar to expensive woven brocades to be achieved on cotton. But as with many everyday crafts of Japan, it developed into an art form of its own, and is used on silks also.