Unknown Maker, Japanese

Used to resist-print textiles, this stencil was made from a web of natural fibers. Kozo bast fibers from the mulberry tree were boiled in a vat, pounded into pulp, swirled with a gelatinous material, and drawn out with a reed strainer. The resulting mass dried into a strong and stable base. A fermented persimmon stain (kakishibu) was then brushed on, preserving and waterproofing the paper, into which a craftsperson carved the design. The spiders and web were depicted using the thrust-carving (tsukibori) technique. Rice paste (mochiko) would have been brushed through the stencil and the process repeated over the length of a textile. Once the paste dried, the fabric was submerged in a dye vat.