Nowadays, when fashion is changing every day, and any new product in the shortest time becomes accessible to the mass of people, exclusive and unusual clothes are appreciated. Therefore, global designers are working, trying to come up with a new print for their fabrics. Their achievements cost a lot of money and remain in demand for a short time until absolutely identical fakes appear in all stores.
If you want to have a fashionable little thing of your own design - pay attention to the technique of batik.
Batik is a painting on fabric. In this way, you can decorate your blouse, skirt, scarf or any other fabric product. There is a cold and hot batik.
History of technology
Hand-painted fabric, called batik, has been known to people for a very long time. This technique was used in Japan, Egypt, China, Africa and Russia. The place where the equipment appeared is Indonesia, the island of Java. Although recently, archaeologists have found canvases painted in this style even in ancient Egypt and China.
Scientists and archaeologists are still debating exactly when the art of fabric painting was born. Some say that this technique was used at the beginning of our era, others correlate its appearance with the invention of the “reserve”: this is the name of the device for applying hot wax to fabric (14th century). Be that as it may, the history of hot batik begins much earlier than cold batik.
The name "batik" first appeared in Holland in the 18th century. Residents of the island of Java called this technique "ambatikom".
Javanese most skillfully make fabrics painted using the hot batik technique. This people gave the world fabrics of unreal beauty, it is in Java that the most famous designers in the world of batik live.
And this is not surprising. The art of hand-painted fabric was passed down by the Javanese from generation to generation, and each genus had its own unique unique technique. Initially, in Java, clothes painted in the style of "hot batik" could only be worn by representatives of the "blue blood", but over time, when the fabric began to be painted for sale, the aristocracy began to include common people in the painstaking work.
In 1835, the first factory appeared in Holland, producing paintings painted using the technique of batik.
Cold batik appeared only in the first half of the twentieth century. A solution was invented that made it possible to apply a reserve to tissue without heating, was in Russia.
Tools and materials
If you decide to master the technique of batik, you may need the following tools and materials.
- The fabric . Initially, natural silk was used to paint the fabric. Now that the paints and materials have reached a new level, other thin fabrics, such as batiste, staple, chiffon, etc., are suitable for batik. The fabric can be used in meter or in the form of a finished product.
- Paints . Paints in the technique of "batik" are of considerable importance. There are a large number of their manufacturers, both imported and domestic. By their properties, paints are divided into those that are diluted exclusively with alcohol, and those into which water is added. The main difference between them is the way of fixing. They can be fixed with an iron, hot steam or water.
- Contour composition . It is best to take the contour composition of the same company as the paint. Usually they are colorless, coloring pigment is added to them immediately before application.
- Frame for batik. Of course, you can buy a special frame for painting fabric, but you will not spend much time if you decide to do it yourself.
- The palette . Needed for mixing paints.
- Pipettes . Needed for a set of paint.
- Tubes for cold batik. Using glass tubes, you can draw thin lines on the canvas. You can buy them at a specialty store. However, if you can’t find them or don’t want to spend money on them, do not despair. You can simply pick up the suitable tool, for example, rather thick centographs, isographs, rapidographs, medical droppers, rezeydera, etc.
- Scotch tape . Needed to protect the frame from paint. If the frame is dirty, it can damage the next job.
- Tailor pins, stapler - any item for fixing fabric.
- Alcohol It is necessary for cultivation of some paints.
- Brushes for painting fabrics.
- Salt It is necessary for faster drying of individual sections and obtaining a specific pattern.
- Purified water. It is necessary for the cultivation of certain types of paints.
- Special pencil or pen . For drawing on fabric.
- Wax . Need if you are close to the technique of hot batik. You can buy ready-made, but you can do it yourself.
- Capacity for painting the canvas.
Cold batik
Cold batik is considered to be a simpler technique than hot batik, since the solution that limits the paint is applied without pre-heating.
Of course, a cold batik still requires focus, a firm hand and sharp lines.
If you briefly describe the process of painting fabric in a cold way, then you need to do the following.
Working process
- The piece of fabric that you are about to paint with, using buttons, a stapler, etc., is attached in a stretched form to the frame.
- Then, with a special pencil or pen, apply the drawing that you want to see on your canvas.
- A reserve contour is applied over the pencil sketch, and it should not have gaps. Otherwise, the paint will come out of the picture, and your work will be hopelessly spoiled.
- The fabric is left to dry the reserve.
- Brushes, sponges, sprays paint the picture and the background of the canvas.
- When the work is finished, it is processed as required by the paint manufacturer. This is necessary to fix the picture. Then the product is washed with warm and cold water.
Batik hot: features
As mentioned above, there are two ways to apply painting to the canvas. The more ancient, natural and traditional hand-painted fabric is called "hot batik", the technique of which is known to the ancient Javanese, Egyptians and Chinese. The meaning of this method is the gradual application of paint to the fabric with protection by the reserve composition of the individual elements. Moreover, only natural components are used as a reserve, which must be heated before use.
The wax composition was originally applied using a copper bucket with a thin nose - chanting, now there are a whole bunch of alternative ways of applying a reserve, for example, special stamps, brushes with hard bristles, etc.
The reserve is applied to a large surface with a wide brush, and a thin brush and chanting are necessary to reserve the contour and small details of the picture.
Hot batik, execution technique
- First of all, you need to prepare the fabric that you selected for painting. To do this, soak it for half an hour in a solution of soda (5 liters of water for 1 tsp. Soda). This is necessary to wash the chemical compounds that manufacturers process the fabric.
- After drying, the fabric is fixed to the frame.
- The first, lightest coat of paint can be applied before sketching. By the way, it is important that the product is impregnated with paint in a sequence from dark to light.
- A special pencil is applied to the drawing. Although some advise not to injure the fabric, apply the drawing not on it, but on a sheet of paper using a marker that will be visible through the canvas.
- Then the drawing is impregnated with a reserve, leaving only those parts that will be covered with the lightest paint layer free.
- After the paint has dried, the reserve is removed with an iron. A newspaper or paper rests on the fabric and is ironed so that all the wax from the fabric moves onto the paper.
- Then the paint is fixed according to the instructions.
- Then, a redundant solution is again applied to the stained and darker areas and the whole procedure is repeated. And so the paint is applied with a reserve layer by layer, until all the shades (even the darkest ones) are on the fabric.
Handkerchief with irises
To make it easier for you to get involved in the process, you can make a shawl using the hot batik technique. The master class described here will help you understand it.
First you need to stock up with the appropriate materials.
- A silk white scarf or just a piece of white silk.
- Frame with pins.
- Thin and thick brushes - for paint and for reserve.
- Reserve.
- Pink, blue, green, yellow paints.
- Tanks for paint dilution.
- With a spray gun.
Master Class
- Soak the fabric in a solution of soda.
- After the fabric dries, pull it onto the frame.
- We dilute the blue paint in two containers: in one - lighter (light blue, almost transparent), in the other - darker (blue, but slightly more intense).
- We wet the fabric with spray water and draw stains on it with these inks.
- Let the fabric dry completely.
- Since we will draw flowers using the "hot batik" technique, we depict irises with long leaves on a dried scarf.
- We reserve the background with wax.
- When the wax dries, immerse the handkerchief in a solution of pink paint (iris flowers should be painted).
- Let the work dry.
- We cover the parts of the flowers, which should remain pink, with wax.
- When the wax has dried, dip a handkerchief in a weak solution of green paint.
- After the paint dries, we cover the parts of the leaves that should remain light, waxed.
- When the wax dries, brush over the parts of the leaves that are not covered by the brush
- We fill in the petals of irises, not covered by the reserve, with slightly diluted blue paint (the color should remain dark enough).
- We paint with bright yellow paint the flower pestles.
- Let the handkerchief dry.
- Using iron and newspapers, remove wax from the product.
- We fix the paint according to the instructions (depends on the manufacturer).
- We rinse the product first in warm and then in cold water.
So you made a fashionable design scarf using the hot batik technique.