Coloring fabric is a very affordable activity even at home. Nowadays, there is a huge selection of paints and tools on sale. This article provides information, if not all, then the main secrets of batik for beginners, master classes on making an exclusive silk scarf, as well as a story about some of the methods and features of painting on fabric.

Application of batik

Batik is used primarily on natural fabrics, although there are dyes for synthetic textiles. It is rarely used, since working with silk and cotton is a pleasure for artists and beginners. Painting fabric is useful in many cases, for example, for creating paintings. Water stains and clear boundaries, floating tints of colors are allowed on fabric much faster than on paper.

Creating an individual style and coloring of clothes for silk blouses, scarves, cotton bedding sets or T-shirts, dresses. At home, it is quite possible and most importantly to safely paint an item with special paints on fabric.

Features by art

Paints are labeled according to their intended purpose and have accompanying instructions for use. Acrylic and aniline paints are diluted with water, but do not rush to get it from the tap. Water should be used pre-purified or distilled to avoid unsightly stains due to impurities in the water. Although, on the contrary, if you specifically add ordinary table salt to the solution, you can paint beautiful spotted drops.

In batik, painting usually begins with the application of a special reserve compound that will limit the paint.

It is applied so that closed islands are formed, and if everything is done correctly, it will completely prevent paint from getting beyond the boundaries of the design.

Paints are mostly water-based, so you can vary the shades and saturation by diluting them in water. The brushes used are mostly synthetic. On silk and thin fabrics, light aniline dyes are often used; acrylic is taken as a heavy film and it is advisable to use it either in a very diluted form, which will lead to a loss of brightness of the colors, or on dense fabrics. However, rubber applications are quite common on T-shirts, which in most cases do not spoil the look.

To paint on fabric, you need to stock up not only with paints and a special solution for the reserve, but also with quite exotic tools - tubes for liquid reserve based on gasoline and rubber glue and copper chanting, if hot wax is used.

The fabric is secured to a frame made of wooden slats using buttons. You can use a board if the amount of work is small. Pictures are also applied different ways. Depending on the degree of artistic skills, you can use stencils and templates, or paint by hand with brushes.

Several ways

Batik is done in several ways. The first method is called the knot method and it is done quite simply. Using special dyes, or natural ones (for example, onion skins, red cabbage, beets, spinach), make a solution in a plastic or enamel container; it will still be colored so that you can’t wash it off with anything, so take what you don’t mind. The fabric is then tied tightly with threads and dipped in dyes.

Cold batik is the use of gasoline reserve, the outlines of the design are applied with a glass tube, then hand-painted with paints and brushes.

The hot batik technique is performed using melted wax and immersing the product in dye. Drawings of all types and methods of coloring will differ from each other.

Fabric painting at home

Let's look at a clear example of creating a silk scarf with your own hands.

We will need a number of materials and tools, which, however, are commercially available:

1. Silk size 35*160 cm;
2. Reserve for cold batik based on gasoline;
3. Glass tube for reserve;
4. Paints and silk;
5. Synthetic brushes of different thicknesses;
6. Frame made of wooden slats;
7. Push pins;
8. Sketches on cardboard.

Step 1. We fix the wet silk in the stretcher using buttons. The fabric needs to be stretched well so that we can form an elastic canvas. We place the paper with the sketch underneath, now it will be easy for us to repeat the drawing.

Step 2. We apply the first touches with a reserve compound. We draw it into a glass tube with a syringe or syringe. Pour a little liquid so that when you touch the fabric it does not spread in a wide spot. Apply the composition along the contours of the drawing, avoiding breaks. You need to give the lines time to dry.

Step 3. We begin to paint the scarf with paints, wet a large brush with boiled cold water, go over all areas, then, dipping it into the paint, make light stains. This is the first layer. Waiting for it to dry.

Things have become very popular lately self made, because every person wants to have something truly exclusive and original, something that no one else has. In addition, the modern rhythm of life is associated with constant stress, and handicrafts have become a kind of relaxation from hard work. In addition, there is nothing difficult in painting a scarf or creating an unusual panel or painting. The range of goods for handicrafts allows even a person without special artistic talent to master painting on fabric - you can buy ready-made fabric with drawings already applied or print it ready-made templates from the Internet. We present to your attention a master class on batik technique for beginners, which is very easy to perform!

Based on the method of applying the dye to the fabric, there are several types of batik: hot, cold, knotted and shibori. In hot batik, hot molten wax is used as a reserve composition; for cold batik, there are special chemical compositions, allowing you to protect individual areas of the design from dye ingress. Knotted batik consists in the fact that areas of the fabric that need to be protected from dye penetration are tied with knots, threads or laces; many people classify the shibori technique as a variety knotted batik, but the reservation of the design elements in it occurs through a certain folding of the fabric.

In order to try your hand at this type of art, it is very important to choose the right fabric - fabrics with a fibrous composition and the right bonds are well suited for painting: cotton, silk and nylon fabrics. It is better to choose paints that match the type of fabric you are going to paint. But if you don’t have the necessary paint on hand, then at the initial stage you can try to apply the drawing using watercolors or gouache. The difference between these paints and special dyes is that fabrics painted with gouache or watercolor are very sensitive to moisture, so pictures made using this technique are best placed under glass.

Learning batik technique for beginners: master class with description

Before painting the fabric, it must be prepared - degrease the surface for better adhesion of the fabric fibers to the paint. To do this, you need to soak it for a couple of hours in warm water, then boil it in a soap-soda solution for about an hour and rinse first in warm, then in cold water. When cutting fabric, keep in mind that after this procedure the fabric will shrink by about 10%.

After degreasing the fabric, it must be secured to a special frame. This should be done very carefully so as not to damage the surface of the fabric with needles. You need to pull the fabric onto the frame tightly enough so that it does not sag, but at the same time, so that there are no distortions in the weaving of the threads in the fabric.

So, if all the preparatory steps have been completed, then you can proceed directly to painting. At this stage, it is important to decide what technique will be used to paint the fabric. For beginners, the free painting technique is perfect, where it is not necessary to first apply sketches of designs to the fabric, and the coloring itself occurs with free strokes and splashes. You just need to first apply a strong saline solution to the fabric and draw on the damp fabric. After completing the work, the fabric must be removed from the frame and ironed through the paper with a hot iron. Thanks to this procedure, the paint is fixed, and the fabric acquires a certain rigidity.

More complex types are cold and hot batik, where before you start painting you need to apply a sketch of the design you are going to do on the fabric. Then a reserve composition is applied along the contour lines of this sketch, and after it has completely dried, you can begin painting the fabrics. On fabric painted using these techniques, bright designs with clear contours are obtained, but these methods are quite labor-intensive to execute and require great concentration and firm hand movements.

In addition to applying designs on fabric yourself or redrawing ready-made templates, the stencil method of painting fabric is very popular, when ready-made reusable adhesive stencils are used to apply the design.

For work we will need:

• Jeans;
• Freedecor stencil;
• Polyethylene film;
• Contours, paints and brushes for painting fabric.

Since the dyes are quite liquid, we place plastic film inside the jeans to prevent the dye from leaking to the other side.

We fix the stencil on the front side of the jeans and carefully draw butterflies with paints.

We decorate the butterflies using a special outline with glitter on the fabric, in this case you can outline or only the outlines of the drawings, or you can add various patterns to the wings of the butterflies at your discretion.

After the outline and paints have dried, we iron our jeans with a hot iron through the paper.

In this simple way you can decorate clothes, shoes, home textiles and everything that your imagination allows in an original way.

Video on the topic of the article

In conclusion, several video lessons that will help you master batik for beginners will tell you about the types of batik and methods of applying dye to help you master this fascinating and unusual art form.

Usage templates for batik does not mean blindly redrawing ready-made plant forms and filling them with color. Although many novice artists can use this method in mastering a new craft.

Composing original compositions based on existing ready-made ornaments is no less difficult than the initial composition of these same ornaments. Successful combinations of ornamental forms in accordance with the laws of composition allow you to create a harmonious work of art. Therefore, sometimes an artist should have ready-made templates on hand for painting using the batik technique or for any other applied art. A separate section is devoted to composition, which you can find on our website.

For example, in the composition of the Dahlia scarf presented below, various ornaments are used, united by a common composition. Here are dahlia flowers as such in the frontal projection and stylized ornamental motifs of the same flowers in the background. All this is complemented by dividing the general plane of the scarf into segments where one or another ornament is present.

As a rule, plant forms are stylized. Leaves, flowers, trees, individual plant elements, right down to stamens and pistils, undergo transformation. The heyday of stylization of plant forms in the history of art occurs, perhaps, in the Art Nouveau era.

An example of stylization is the sketches of Eugene Grasset, a representative of the Art Nouveau era. The transformation of plant form is based on a deep and thorough analysis of the natural form of the plant.

Let's take a look at some unique templates that you can use in your creativity. They can be printed for batik or glass painting ready-made or based on them to create a more complex composition.

The use of ornaments and patterns in work makes it easier to master composition and allows you to create new works of art.

Success in creative work!

Art Nouveau style(from the French “new art”) arose at the end of the 19th century and was widespread in Europe, as well as in America. Another name for the style is modern. Modernism replaced eclecticism, which used combinations of elements from all previous styles. Artists and architects of modern times were embraced by common ideals and ideas, in which they sought to create something completely different from previous trends in art. And they succeeded! The source of inspiration and the basis of the Art Nouveau style was the use plant forms, stylization of natural elements. In modernity there is a departure from straight lines and angles, fluidity and smoothness appear.

Particularly prominent representatives of this style were such artists as Gustav Klimt, William Morris, Alphonse Mucha, Mikhail Vrubel, Leon Bakst, Edvard Munch and others.

Ornaments and elements of style immediately found their application in decorative and applied arts and architecture.

Art Nouveau existed for 30 years and then quickly began to fade away, but to this day its sinuous forms are used by contemporary artists in a variety of art directions, for example, in batik, decorative painting, and interior design.

So I invite you to join this milestone in the development of art and use it in your works Art Nouveau style patterns. Stencils can be used to create compositions, both in batik and in glass painting, interior wall painting and for any other purpose.

I’ll give you an example of how you can use these stencils in your work; my handkerchief “Daisies and Fishes” 90*90 cm 100% satin silk will serve as an example.

Animal patterns and floral patterns of daisies were used here, united by a single central composition of the scarf.

Experimenting with color and combining different stencils in a composition can bring amazing results in the form of beautiful Art Nouveau pieces!

Modern batik is nothing more than a fabric painting technique that draws its roots from ancient China, Indonesia, Africa, and South India. Traditionally, designs for batik were painted on a very thin layer of wax, after which the material was dipped into a special paint. It is worth noting that with this procedure, wax-coated fabrics were not stained.
Many archaeological finds confirm the existence of batik in ancient civilizations. It is worth remembering, for example, the ancient Peruvian fabrics, which were widespread many thousands of years ago. Batik technology was used in ancient Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Sumer, and also in various African states.
The art of fabrics - batik - brought the world saris from India, kimonos from Japan, sundresses from Russia. Screens using the batik technique were very often used as original decoration in Japanese interiors. They were decorated with poetry, calligraphy and painting. Animal techniques, the materials themselves (silk, ink), technique and methodology are very close to ancient Chinese calligraphy. The painting technique required enormous skill, because the silk was previously treated with rice starch, special compounds, and alum. Paintings were often done with a semi-dry brush. The completely finished product created a feeling of high cost and luxury in a traditional, laconic Japanese interior.
Relatively recently, hand-painted cotton and silk fabrics arose in our country. At the beginning of the 20th century, domestic artists who studied the technique of painting on fabrics created a completely new technology “GUTTA” (the use of a reserve composition for the precise application of the outline of a design), which today is extremely popular all over the world. The modern batik technique has absorbed all the best artistic features of many fine arts- pastels, mosaics, stained glass, watercolors and graphics. Unlike other artistic crafts, there are no direct successive relationships with peasant everyday and natural art and there are no firmly established traditions.
, draws up ideas on products that, one way or another, complement the costume (ties, stoles, scarves, neck scarves and head scarves), as well as curtains, panels, giving absolutely anyone a unique sophistication. Be that as it may, nowadays, as before, hand-painting on fabrics is most valued, so many artists mainly create hand-made works of art, combining the traditions of Japanese-Chinese painting and Javanese batik technology.

In this article you can see a selection of sketches for batik that will help you in starting a hand-painted business.

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