It is customary to refer to the art of painting fabric as batik. In the process of work, the craftsmen use special reserve compounds and process the fabric with special dyes. Things painted using the batik technique are striking in their beauty and often represent real works of art.
The history of batik
Since time immemorial, people have learned to paint and decorate fabrics, making this occupation one of the most important crafts. The first masters of dyeing and printing fabrics lived in the territories of modern China and India. Scientists have found that natural dyes were discovered and began to be used several millennia BC. Many have heard of the Indonesian island of Java. This place is rightfully considered the world center for the origin of batik. The very word appeared there. Literally translated into Russian, it implies a drawing procedure using hot wax. Hindus and Chinese, Egyptians and inhabitants of ancient Peru adopted this art from the Javanese.
Most historians agree that the origin of batik should be attributed to the XIII-XIV centuries. However, it became widespread only after several centuries - by the 17th century. It was then that a special instrument was created, which in the local dialect was called "chanting". It was designed to apply patterns to the surface of the fabric using molten wax. Outwardly, the chang-ting was a small copper container equipped with a bamboo or wood handle, and also had several curved spouts. Currently, the use of this tool has faded into the background, since the most popular in Java has become the stamping "chap".
How is painting on fabric
When designing fabrics, craftsmen use a reserve of various mixtures. They cover those areas of fabric that remain unpainted. The composition of this reserve may include a variety of components: plant and wood resins, paraffin, beeswax. The reserve is designed to saturate the fabric and reliably protect it from the effects of paint.
When the fabric is prepared, it is dipped in the paint, and after a while the existing reserve is removed. The white drawing remains on the canvas, while the rest of the background is completely painted over.
Despite the fact that recently stamping has been widely used, fabrics are often painted by hand. There are several ways to hand-paint, and each has its own characteristics.
When the reserve has the form of a closed loop applied to the fabric, and already inside it, the product is to be painted - this is a cold batik. Drawings in this technique are distinguished by clear graphics, and the number of paints used is not limited. If the reserve serves both for drawing a contour and for covering individual areas of the fabric, such painting is called hot batik. With free painting, patterns are applied with free strokes. Finally, the technique of knotted batik no longer presupposes painting of the fabric, but its exclusive dyeing. Separate areas of the material can be tied in knots.