FAQ
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What makes Mutsuko's Kumi-e unique?
Uniqueness
Each Kumi- E is unique. Rather than using a pattern, template, model or stencil, Mutsuko relies on her vision, inspiration and feeling to produce images of unsurpassed individuality. Her inspiration comes from having lived in nine very different countries and ten years in Kumumurra, northern Western Australia.
Style
Mutsuko’s Kumi-E are personal blend of techniques borrowed from the Japanese Chigiri-E (hand torn paper images) and Hari-E (Collage). Also included in that blend are elements derived from Mutsuko’s memories of visiting museums in Tokyo during her high school years. She was particularly impressed by the depth, the three-dimensional feeling, of Monet's paintings.
Craftsmanship
Each single little piece of paper in these exquisite images have been hand torn to size and shape from papers hand made and dyed by Mutsuko’s herself following Japanese traditional methods. She makes paper pulp from selected dried barks and uses it to make the individual sheets of paper, one at the time, each sheet consisting of three single layers of fibres. Finally each individual sheet is dried and dyed as required with colourfast dyes.
Quality
Most papers are entirely derived from Kozo (mulberry) and Mitsumata (daphne) barks (cambium) which contain no lignin and therefore won’t turn yellow with time. Some other papers, very few, are made from recycled acid free papers. The dyes have been tested under the fierce sun of the Kimberley in northern Western Australia. The framing in Kumi-E uses a 100 % acid free matt board and a conservation quality 95% UV protection glass.
Colours
Mutsuko’s papers have soaked up the brightest imaginable hue of ink giving her flowers and characters an existence which parallels that of their real – life counterpart in intensity. The exciting and visually stimulating combinations of shape, colours and textures found in a Kumi-E will transform any room into a haven of colour and sensuality.
How long does it take to make 'Washi' (Japanese paper)?
It takes me 3 days to make 30 sheets of washi of A3 size.
