A client has a kakishibu dyed fabric. Said fabric is nicely beige-brown but rather unimpressive. So he wants it different. Grey or black, maybe. But it should still retain its water repellent properties. The fabric is densely woven cotton/linen. The cotton thread is either natural grown brown or already treated with kakishibu. It is dense enough that it repells water.
Over the course of the past several days, I am now experimenting with different dye possibilities. Iron oxide, soot, earth pigments, indigo as paint. There is no way, I will be able to dye it in an immersion, I tried. Pigments are a nice way to paint such a fabric but they are slow to develop. Nothing for the dyer in a hurry.
The advantage of such experimentations is that I have enough dye prepared so that I can experiment for myself.
I'm still pondering whether I will keep them as they are or if they should get an indigo dip. In any case, I'd like them as curtains in my new flat. Usually kakishibu and iron sulfate is rather light fast.
Kakishibu, pigments and protein binder make fabrics rather stiff. This is uncommon for Western fabrics but rather typical for a lot of fabrics from Japan or China. The circle fabric is an old, relatively thick linen, in German it is called "Bauernleinen", rough linen for grain sacks or work clothes woven on small looms with handspun linen thread. They are usually about 100 - 150 years old.
This is my favourite. It will be the backside of a linen waistcoat. It's painted inidgo with a protein binder.