Field Trip 1

Our first field trip was to the Noguchi studio in Hachioji. We made a short walk from the farmhouse to the bus stop then caught a train. We stopped at a wonderful supermarket where we each selected food for our picnic lunch to be consumed later that day. Noguchi's workshop is a modest facility where the family has produced fabric for kimonos and other cloth for several generations. This type of cottage-industry craftspeople are common in Japan. Noguchi San first demonstrated how to print the stencils with perfect repeating registration, how they are put out to dry, then stored in the rafters. Bryan then gave us further instructions in English. We stretched our cotton kimono fabric, selected from an array of antique stencils on hand, then began our printing. We hung our cloth to dry and enjoyed our picnic lunch on the sunny afternoon. We then proceeded to dye our fabric in the fermented indigo vats which are different than the ones used at the farmhouse. After rinsing and drying our projects, at the end of the day, we traveled back to Fujino by train.
See links below for the full tour of the Japan Textile Workshop & Tour 2015

Welcome to the Farmhouse | Our First Day | Indigo | Stencils | Field Trip 1 | Food/Social | Culture | Projects | Field Trip 2 | Modern Tokyo | Old Tokyo