12/03/2025
〰️ Some continued experiments 〰️
Last November, in residency at I treated a few sheets of kozo and gampi papers - produced by - with some freshly fermented (summer 2024) kakishibu (fermented persimmon dye) - produced by
As it usually ferments for a year to get the distinctive dark red-brown colour, this kakishibu was still a very light yellow. I knew that unlike most natural dyes, kakishibu darkens in sunlight so I continued the experiment in Berlin.
I have some very good sun exposure in my studio so I taped a few of my treated sheets to the window for a couple *months* - it is winter, in dark Berlin.... Thankfully, for my own mental health and for the experiment, we had a couple very sunny weeks and the change in colour has been stark!!
From left to right on the second slide, all papers were treated with 2 layers of freshly fermented Kakishibu:
Kozo paper, little sun exposure
Kozo paper, sun exposure
Kozo paper, konnyaku treatment before kakishibu, sun exposure
Gampi paper, konnyaku treatment before kakishibu,
sun exposure