Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Ikat: Derive the repeat unit backwards from the width of the cloth
- Type
- Set in Ikat's manner (Use simple, large letterforms that hold up against the bleed), and let Meisen Kimono's lettering (Let pattern speak instead of letters, the name kept on a small tag) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Ikat's material (Dye at the thread stage and weave without correcting the shift); bring in exactly one thing from Meisen Kimono (Chemical dyes on a stencil printed warp, keeping the blurred kasuri edge).
- Colour
- Build on #d8d4cc, #b88f3f, #4e2c2e and admit one accent from #d6c756, #bd4278, #3a1f22.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Ikat Imitating the bleed in print will not produce the history of the thread. The order of the process is the meaning of the pattern.
- Meisen Kimono Chasing a crisp register kills the blur that kasuri gives, and the cloth drifts toward being an ordinary large scale print.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Ikat (technique, ancient–) and their accent from Meisen Kimono (style, 1900s–1950s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Ikat exists for: making the outline of a pattern deliberately indistinct, or making the weaving process itself a condition of the design. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Ikat - Pattern edges where the outline bleeds - Warp and weft dyed separately - Calculated placement of color - Wavering caused by shifts in the weave Composition: Derive the repeat unit backwards from the width of the cloth. Type and lettering: Use simple, large letterforms that hold up against the bleed. ## Accent comes from Meisen Kimono, used sparingly - Large abstract patterns - Vivid chemical dyes - Blurred kasuri edges - Everyday experimentation Let one material quality come from it: Chemical dyes on a stencil printed warp, keeping the blurred kasuri edge. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #d8d4cc, carry the structure in #b88f3f and #4e2c2e, and let a single accent come from #bd4278. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: intimacy, technique, nostalgia, play, exhilaration. ## What goes wrong - Ikat: Imitating the bleed in print will not produce the history of the thread. The order of the process is the meaning of the pattern. - Meisen Kimono: Chasing a crisp register kills the blur that kasuri gives, and the cloth drifts toward being an ordinary large scale print. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Ikat ancient– / Technique / Textile Traditions
A technique in which the threads are bound and dyed before weaving, calculated so that the pattern appears only once the cloth is woven. A slight shift of the threads blurs the outline, and that wavering is the fingerprint of ikat. Design and chance live in the same process.
- Meisen Kimono 1900s–1950s / Style / Fashion History
A popular kimono that carried bold abstract patterns and the bright colors of chemical dye on a cheap ikat technique. It was a Japanese modernism, translating Deco and the avant-garde into everyday dress.
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