Kaimaki Story

 

I used a traditional textile, the Kaimaki, in a contemporary way by lining this bedcover in three tapestries made from naturally dyed wool yarns and linen. Combining new materials, silk/tencell with familiar fibers like wool and linen I was able to produce a new interpretation of an old textile.

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I was first introduced to the textile called a Kaimaili or Yogi, in May 2005. This textile looks to the untrained eye as if it is an oversized kimono made for a giant. When infact it is a bed covering used the way western culture uses a comforter. Its inpact on my life was initially subtle, but grew on me over the months to follow. I began to wonder why a people would go to so much trouble to put sleeves on a textile that didn’t have arms. The result of that wonderment was a two month series of dreams that lead me to this body of work, a culmination of the textile techniques I have been investigating for the past sixteen years; Katazome, Kumihimo, and French Tapestry. This “Kaimaki” and its accompanying pieces are the result, finished November 4, 2005

Initially I began to study some history of the Japanese people and found they had migrated to Japan from northern China. I started looking at garments from that region and found an outer garment still used by the Tibetans where the sleeves are not used for the arms. Its function was similar to our use of the overcoat. This idea sent images of the garments that might have been worn in conjunction with this outer coat as these people migrated south. It stands to reason that as one beds down for the night with the warmest thing they had, the over-coat, or Kaimaki. Once these people reached the most southern region, they stopped migrating and the Kaimaki never needed to be used as an overcoat. These are a people who hold to their traditions so strongly that the shape of the Kaimaki never changed. Hence, sleeves on a textile that doesn’t have arms.

 

The outer cloth or skin, made from silk/tencell, displays images inspired by the pre-Viking pictographs in Bohuslan, Sweden. Images were hand carved in the smoked mulberry paper, silk gauze was lacquered to the front providing stability to the paper making a usable stencil. Rice paste was then pulled through the stencil resulting in a paste design on the cloth. Dye was applied to the areas not covered in paste so that after the cloth is washed the result is the white designs

 

The linings inside are made of one 65” x 40” tapestry in the back and two 65” x 20” tapestries in the front. Using my vegetal dyed wool yarns and linen for all three tapestries, I depicted the beauty within in the back panel in reds and greens and its ‘shadow side’ on the front panels in dyed grays. I used the phenomena of walking in the full moon light which absorbs all hue, changing the colors to value expressions for the ‘shadow side’.

Finishing touches of a Kumihimo braid was added to bring attention and focus to the opening to the center.

 

The warmest reception to this piece came as a comment from a client, “But the beautiful part is on the inside.” This gave me the opening to explain, “Yes, as it is with most of us. The most beautiful parts are often inside along with the shadow side and covered by a skin of symbols identifying us with certain tribes.”

The pieces that follow, “First Snow” and the Under Kimono are two of the garments that might have accompanied a migration.

“First Snow” is done using an 8-harness block twill pattern hand woven from linen, silk and paper making this garment Shifu. Or more technically stated, Asakinujifu. The under kimono is made from 100% silk done using the Katazome dye technique. Both are 100% vegetal dyed.