onlyinpomona.org - and the making of the above

On this page you will find the "making of" the artist's "Dragon" series clothing items.
This is the process she typically goes through while working on painted/ dyed piece using acid/ direct dye.

Acid dye can be used on silk, wool and 100% nylon, direct dye on cotton and silk, the same dye procedure for both kinds.

This is how and where it begins: a fairly large pencil drawing of the whole thing of a dragon.

Few such drawings are used to construct one dress.

Seen on the left is a previous version of the dress, painted using fabric markers (pigment ink).

Seen on far left is a "paper dress", roughly put together to experiment best placement of fragmented dragons on each 'panel' of the dress.

Also prepared at this stage are swatches in different colors. This is necessary as dyed results differ depending on fabric's texture, dye solution thickness, amount of dye applied and type of brushes used.

Swatches are then sent to craftsman specialized mostly in Kimono materials, to be "steam set".

Some of the brushes used. Shorter ones are traditional and hand crafted, seem to work best when you want dye to sink into fabric grain.

One of the above swatches up close.

Based on placement on the paper dress, design is drawn on test fabric with similar weight/ fluidity to the one for the final version, using fabric markers just to get the feel of it.

Painted, hang and dried. When all pieces are done, they will be sent to the above-mentioned craftsman.

Upon their return, the artist gets busy rinsing them gently under running water to remove excess dye, then finish the procedure by soaking them in fixing agent. Until dried completely, the dyed surface will remain vulnerable to moisture.

Close-up of one of the above pieces before steam-setting. Design like this-dark dye on light material-requires extra caution to keep the dye off of light-colored areas.

When completed, the work becomes quite durable with its surface smooth as ink drawing, preserving the fabric's original texture.

While Yuko Nagai uses running tap water, traditional Kyoto folks stand in river holding dyed works that float like a giant serpent. Whatever the choice, water must be clean and running.

Right: River (mouth) near the artist’s residence, probably unsuitable for this purpose. Most rivers in Japan are no longer crystalline enough to rinse your masterpiece in them, but forgiving salmons and swans return to this particular location every year. The sign is to warn salmon poachers.