{"id":7745,"date":"2018-08-03T11:53:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T15:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/?p=7745"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:13:15","slug":"mofuku-obi-remake-giveaway-featuring-cutting-edge-stencils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonblossom.net\/blog\/2018\/08\/mofuku-obi-remake-giveaway-featuring-cutting-edge-stencils\/","title":{"rendered":"Mofuku Obi Remake & Giveaway featuring Cutting Edge Stencils"},"content":{"rendered":"

Odds are, at some point in your life as a kimono collector, you’ll end up with one or two mofuku (funeral wear) items in your hoard. Wearing them as-is can often feel disrespectful or inappropriate, but upcycling them into something new and wearable is a wonderful way to give a piece new life. Not only does it make something more wearable, it also fits perfectly with the Japanese theory of mottainai<\/a>, a disdain for waste and a philosophy of recycling.<\/p>\n

I’ve paired up with Cutting Edge Stencils<\/a>\u00a0to take this obi<\/a>, which is in excellent condition but relatively unwearable due to the funerary associations, and turn it into something new! They have a fantastic selection of Japanese inspired wall stencils<\/a>, but what really caught my eye were the ones inspired by botanical mon, the round family crests found on formal kimono. I love kiku, so of course the\u00a0Chrysanthemum Twist<\/a> stencil called out to me the most strongly, and it’s the one we’ll be using today.<\/p>\n

Painting over items (particularly black silk) actually has quite a long tradition when it comes to kimono. The technique is often referred to as pente, and showed up frequently in the post-ration era after WWII when access to more traditional techniques and materials was slim. Those of you who are familiar with my amazing lobster tsuke-obi<\/a> might recognise it as being pente. So this project is really quite appropriate!<\/p>\n

What you’ll need:<\/h4>\n

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  1. Solid coloured Nagoya obi<\/li>\n
  2. Small-sized (8″)\u00a0Japanese mon stencil<\/a> from Cutting Edge<\/li>\n
  3. Stencilling brushes<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Something to hold down your stencil (I used Zots<\/a>, which are super useful repositionable sticky dots)<\/li>\n
  5. Fabric-safe paint (I used Finnabair’s Art Alchemy Sparks in Butterfly Spells<\/a> and Unicorn Hair<\/a> which look amazing on the black fabric)<\/li>\n
  6. Painting supplies (Water, paper towels, drop cloth)<\/li>\n
  7. Not pictured: Fine detail\/line brush, paint in the same colour as your obi<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Using an existing Nagoya Obi for reference, determine where you want your stencils to go. I went with a very standard arrangement, the full design on the wide drum and a smaller accent on the front. I used low-adhesive paper tape to delineate my areas because a white fabric pencil could potentially leave visible marks on the black silk.<\/p>\n\n\t\t