Batik for beginners: advice of masters to beginners. Batik lessons for beginners: how to master the technology of batik?

In the world there is a huge number of a wide variety of crafts. Among them, the batik stands out, which for hundreds of years has not lost its popularity around the world. In recent years, it is a very fashionable trend in the fashion world. It is not necessary to purchase expensive handmade items. This ancient art is now available to anyone who wants to. Exclusive things can be created independently, having mastered a batik for beginners.

History of ancient needlework

The name of this unique art of cloth painting comes from the Indonesian word "batik". The syllable "ba" means "cotton cloth", and "tik" means "drop", "dot". Batik for beginners in the general sense of the word is a manual painting of matter. This type of painting of the fabric is a special technology for processing, painting and decorating a suitable material for the structure. For each of the islands of Indonesia and India, people have used this method for treating fabrics with natural dyes for centuries. The greatest popularity and development of methods of creating batik was received on. Java.

Hand-made fabric was used for the base under the painting. Her training was given special attention. The fabric was soaked, boiled, bleached. Masters in various ways achieved its uniformity and the required density. The painting of one cut could take several days. Its main stages were: waxing, staining, drying. Such actions were repeated many times until a multi-color pattern was obtained. In some cases, tissue treatment consisted of 5-10 cycles. The recipe for making natural colors is still carefully guarded. According to the clothes, the person's family ties, his belonging to the caste and the social position were determined. Subjects of the painting were different: from the most complicated ornaments to abstract drawings. Often they conveyed religious and genre motives. Despite the wide dissemination of this art in Indonesia, Europe and America it appeared only at the beginning of the 20th century.

Basics of the technology of painting

Batik for beginners is based on applying to the fabric contours simple drawings. In this case, those places that do not need to be painted are pre-coated with wax or a special rubber compound. After immersing the treated tissue in a container with a coloring composition, its residues are neatly removed. To achieve a multi-layered pattern, repeat the procedure several times. Any cloth must be washed thoroughly before starting work.

Cold way to create a batik

There are different ways that you can get an excellent batik. For beginners, you can recommend the so-called "cold" method. It is based on the application on the contours of a special composition based on rubber glue. Cold batik is used for staining silk, although it is possible to process some other fabrics.

The basis of this method is "redundancy", which means applying to the fabric a certain composition in order to highlight and preserve a variety of background and pattern shades. A cold batik for beginners was invented much later than "hot". This method of processing tissue has become possible with the development of chemistry.

Reducing compositions for cold batik

The best reserving composition is the contour tool "Gutta", which is produced by the firm "Kroyl". Bottles and tubes with special nozzles-nozzles of various diameters are very convenient in work. This redundant substance is on a gasoline and water basis. There are colored and colorless compounds. Less environmentally friendly and convenient is a mixture of rubber glue, waxes and gasoline. For 500 grams of home-made reserves you will need 50 g of glue, 430 g of gasoline, 20 g of beeswax or 220 g of glue, 230 g of gasoline, 50 g of paraffin. Such a reserve should be applied with special tools. Most often, a glass tube with a reservoir is used for this.

Figures for a batik for beginners are better to choose ornamental or fantasy. As you improve and acquire practice, you can move to more complex and elegant patterns.

Basic requirements for cold batik

In order not to spoil the fabric and your laborious work, it is necessary to observe several basic rules for working with a cold reserve:

• The mass must be of the necessary consistency;

• the contour must be applied with a continuous line;

• The sharpness and clarity of the line stylistically determines the direction of the whole work.

"Hot" painting on batik for beginners

This type of processing of fabrics is considered the oldest version of the mural. As a rule, it is called "hot batik". The redundant substance in this case is used only hot. Thanks to the application of molten wax, the ratio of unpainted and colored fragments creates unique patterns of painting. The uniqueness of such a batik is that even if you try to accurately repeat an ornament by stencil it is impossible to obtain identical copies. Wax is applied using a special tool, which in Indonesia is called "chanting". In this case, its form can be different, and the principle of action is always the same. Places covered with wax, do not absorb the paint and limit its spread across the fabric. This method is used, as a rule, for coloring matter made of cotton.

Hot Standby Options

There are different reserve options:

• 500 g of factory wax mass;

• 250 g of stearin or paraffin, 230 g of artificial wax, 20 g of technical Vaseline ;

• 400 g of stearin or paraffin, 100 g of natural wax.

The redundant mass is melted until uniform. On a fabric it put on the outlined contours of drawing. After cooling of the composition, the material is stained and the wax residues are scraped off. When creating complex multi-layered patterns, you will need to repeatedly apply a reserve and color the material in the desired shades. After obtaining the final result, the wax residue is removed, several times ironing the fabric through the wrapping paper.

The development and diversity of modern batik

Since professional artists and designers of clothes appreciated all the beauty and uniqueness of this technique for processing fabrics, to date, a variety of schools have been created that train those who want this art. At the same time, batik lessons for beginners include not only traditional Indonesian methods of applying wax and paints to cotton, but also "bundle", "knotted", blue-and-white Chinese silk, multicolored Japanese painting on silk. There is another type of tissue treatment, which is often called "batik for beginners". This is the so-called "free painting". Despite the various ways of doing it, three different techniques are applied to it. It includes watercolor, stencil and graphic painting. Such a mixture of methods of working with tissues was due to the Dutch, who brought to Europe and the mode of production, and the very word "batik". Technology for beginners can be chosen either, and as experience in working with fabrics and paints accumulates, it will expand through other methods of staining.

Working conditions for the creation of batik

Even with the best fabrics, special paints and reserves, without proper labor organization, it is impossible to obtain beautiful and durable products. The room for creating a batik should be light, ventilated, dry and heated. For work you will need a comfortable table and a large frame or a stretcher, in which the fabric will be fixed. Matter must be well stretched, since sagging can disrupt the outline of the pattern. As a rule, a wet cloth is stretched on a stretcher, and after drying it is well spread. For painting it is necessary to have a set of tubes (for a cold batik), special tubes with a reserve, brushes, templates, forms for paints, a container for coloring the fabric. For "hot" processing of material you will need a special tool "chanting". As chemicals, giving the tissues special effects, you may need alcohol, salt and urea.