Fabric painting is an ancient art that allows you to create unique works. Its roots in this type of artistic processing of fabrics goes to the countries of Southeast Asia - Japan, China, Indonesia. Ancient masters most often painted silk on which outlandish birds and flowers came to life. Hand-painted fabrics brought to Europe were valued very highly; only representatives of the aristocracy could afford them. The technique of painting on fabric began to develop in Europe only in the 20s of the last century. All types of handmade fabric dyeing are called batik. This word came from Indonesia, it literally means "a drop on the fabric." There are various techniques for creating patterns on fabrics.
Hot batik
This is the most difficult way of painting and one of the oldest. To create a multi-color pattern, the desired areas are waxed and dipped in hot dye. Under wax drops, the fabric does not change its color, therefore, having painted part of the picture in one tone, wax lines are again applied and painted in the next color. And so many times, until you get a complex pattern. Such painstaking work on one canvas can last for weeks. The finished fabric is pulled to dry and the wax is finally removed.
Cold batik
In this technique, a special composition (reserve) is applied to the outline of the pattern, inside which the fabric is painted in different colors. Only after applying all the colors, the fixing composition is removed and the contour drawn. To get high-quality painting on the fabric, it is usually stained on both sides.
Nodal Batik
This method is available to everyone. It is very simple - knots are knotted before staining on the fabric. You can do this in a chaotic manner, or you can think of a special pattern. The fabric thus prepared is subjected to boiling in a coloring solution. This method is suitable only for fabrics that withstand high temperatures.
Painting on fabric by airbrush or acrylic paints
This is a modern technique, for its implementation special acrylic paints for fabrics are needed. They can be applied with a regular brush or with an airbrush. When drawing in this way, you can use various stencils or
stamps, you can apply plants and small objects instead. Work with an airbrush requires certain skills. It allows you to get a very delicate, translucent layer of paint and therefore it is often used by professionals to create original work. Having finished painting on the
fabric with acrylic paints, a fixing agent is applied and the canvas is dried properly. These dyes are best used for dense fabrics, as well as for leather and suede.
Wet fabric painting
Such works are very unusual - paints smoothly flow from one tone to another, resulting in the effect of airiness of the picture. The canvas can first be kept in saline to prevent ugly smudges.
Modern designers, to create unique models of clothing, turn to new technologies that make it possible to create a printed painting on fabric. The photo transferred to the silk canvas has become a fashionable technique among leading couturiers.