applying nori | furoshiki one

Ready to paste the first furoshiki - this is where the batch of nori comes in.

At this point the fabric is stretched taut on the table and nori is squeegeed through the hand cut katagami stencil onto the fabric.

After the paste has been applied, very fine sawdust would usually be sprinkled on top to draw moisture to the surface of the nori to assist with the drying process.

I was unable to find sawdust fine enough locally, and substituted sawdust for sand. The sand seems to have worked quite well in place of the sawdust on this design.
 

Ready to apply nori to the first furoshiki

The first furoshiki - pasted with the stencil removed

A detail of the furoshiki with paste and sand applied

After applying nori to this first design it was clear straight away that the nori was too wet. The mixture contained too much water and bled slightly underneath the stencil.

Any bleeding interferes with the next stage when dye is applied over the resist, so it is very likely that this particular furoshiki won't dye as clearly and crisply as it is meant to. Despite knowing that there is a very good chance that this furoshiki won't be up to scratch, I intend to finish it as a test piece.