IT has been seen how versatile the batik method is as a means of illuminating fabrics, also how design is the controlling element in all good batik work. In both the space and color relations the batik worker has control of the entire surface subject only to the limitations imposed by the mediums in which he is working.
It follows that a knowledge of the principles of design must underlie good batik work as well as a knowledge of dyes.
In taking up the other ways in which school children are using dyes, it is well to place emphasis upon the design elements involved. All dyeing as done by craftsmen and in the schools involves design. Even all-over dyeing is carried out with the idea of the dyed piece becoming a part of some larger whole.
The earliest use of dyes in the schools is in stick printing, and here begin the first lessons in pattern dyeing.
All shapes used in design resolve themselves into certain recognized types. These type shapes are the square, oblong, triangle, circle, ellipse and oval. There are also standards of color that have become associated with these types. They are red, yellow, blue, orange, green and violet. These shapes and colors are taught universally by teachers who train children in the elementary concepts of design.
It is the adjustment of these shapes and colors in space that constitutes design. It is the application of these shapes and colors to definite materials for definite uses in the child’s life that constitutes applied design.
When the child prints a square on his paper it is a real square and good in color. The next one will be a real duplicate, both in shape and color. The problem is where to put the duplicate. That is the essence of design, and both teacher and pupil are ready to take hold of it. There is time for discussion and drill. Results must follow. The child begins to sense and appreciate standards and to love accuracy, neatness and orderliness. His interest is sustained and his powers strengthened through satisfactory accomplishment. He plans, invents, and executes, acquires independence of thought and expression, and designs in accordance with his imagination and experience.
Very early in the child’s training, while the stick printing is unfolding the elements of design to him, he applies his designs to enrich his construction work. It is the time for the child to begin through concrete efforts to get rooted into his thinking that designs are made to be applied and that everything which contributes to his comfort, happiness and well-being exists because a design has been applied.
Then is also the time for the child to see some printed textiles in which the pattern is geometrical like his stick printing.
After the child has had sufficient experience with type shapes, he may add block printing. With the knowledge and experience gained through the use of sticks, he is enabled to modify the standard shapes. A wood block veneered with linoleum that can be easily cut with a sharp knife into any form desired, and which maintains a rigid printing surface, brings this craft within his reach.
In beginning the print block work a square or rectangular surface may be cut into a pleasing group of standard shapes involving straight lines and then simple curves. There may follow at later intervals in the course problems of increasing difficulty consistent with the ability to think and execute. Continued observation of commercial prints and, if possible, of fine handicraft is always in order.
In connection with block printing may well come an early lesson in setting colors.
In color printing the color should be a part of the fiber of the goods without the least injury or change in the texture. Any process which gums the fiber or destroys the texture is not beautiful in its results, and does not give true color printing.
Besides the method elsewhere referred to, the following will give excellent results in block printing. A large tin cover into which a thick piece of felt is fitted serves as a color pad. Pains should be taken to have the right quantity of dye well spread on the pad. Too much color makes the printing less clear. When a trial on a piece of the goods is right a large number of imprints can then be made. The secret of good work is a nice adjustment of the color pad and then uniformity of pressure on the block, both in taking color from the pad and in making the imprint. The printing is done on a flat surface with a single layer of blotter beneath the textile. Some fabrics take the imprint better if slightly dampened.
The illustration of block printing is a specimen of Hindu work.
The sticks will find continued use in printing connecting spots and for the introduction of additional color so often needed for enrichment.
The manufactured textile here illustrated was designed by using stick printing and block printing.
When the attainment reached with sticks and print blocks is sufficient to call for larger and more varied design, it is time for the craft to broaden and include stenciling.
Stenciling is the most exacting master of simplicity. It teaches one how to sweep away all that is trivial and unnecessary in design. It shows the value of broad, flat tones combined with accurate drawing, and proves conclusively the vital importance of good composition.
The stenciling process has been described so many times that directions for the work are not needed. An elementary lesson in all-over dyeing can very appropriately be given in connection with advanced block printing or stenciling. This might well be the waxing over of the printed or stenciled pattern, followed by a dipping for the ground color.
The example of stenciling illustrated is a table cover. The material is natural colored linen. The colors were liquid dyes blown on with an atomizer. The bodies, heads and legs of the cranes are orange; the wings and tails blue. The flowers and spots are purple, the leaves and stems blue.
Spraying liquid dye with an atomizer permits not only of the usual direct coloring of the design areas, but also of resist stenciling, in which a light design is produced on a dark background. A small dark design on a large light background is stringy and thin. The light seems to eat into the edge of the design and minimize its importance. On the other hand, a small light design on a large dark background is magnified in importance. While for proper control in either case we must adjust the space relations of the design and background areas, yet it is equally important that one be able to adjust the color relations of the design and background areas.
The process for “resist” stenciling is as follows: The stencil is laid upon the surface to be decorated, and the open pattern is carefully covered with a thin layer of library paste or paste made from flour and salt water. Flour added to a solution of salt in water is the best preparation we have found. A palette knife, or a case knife may be used to spread this paste. The stencil is at once lifted and the color desired for the background is sprayed in a flat tone over the entire surface. The paste acts as a resist, preventing the penetration of the color. The entire surface is immediately wet with cold water and the resist washed off. The stencil is carefully and thoroughly cleaned in the same way and then pressed and dried.
This is especially suitable for book covers and end paper designs, or mats, where the pattern does not partake of the nature of a repeat, as it is better to remove the resist while wet.
It is interesting to stencil the open pattern in one or more colors, then apply the resist and give another color to the background.
Most interesting stenciling has been done with two or more stencils. To make these, a stencil should be cut for each color. Use the original design sheet for one color. Transfer other color areas to new sheets. Make all sheets, including the tracing paper, the same size. Before tracing lay sheets and tracing paper together and punch coinciding holes in the upper corners. Keep these holes coincident during the process of tracing. By means of these holes the respective stencils are easily applied so that the color scheme is accurately reproduced.
It must not be overlooked by those who are stenciling that only part of the color applied becomes incorporated into the fiber of the goods. The other part is outside the fiber, adherent to the goods. This adherent color should be removed. It corresponds to the excess color in dyeing, which we take pains to remove by rinsing. The very purpose of the steaming, or other “setting” process, is to incorporate the dye into the fiber. This is never perfectly accomplished. There is always some excess adherent color to be removed.
How often we meet the following experience: A craft worker in decorating a fabric applies color until the eye is pleased, takes little or no pains to incorporate the color into the fiber, and ignores altogether the fact that some of the color is only adherent. Later this adherent color comes off (not out) in the wash. There is then disappointment and complaint against methods, colors, etc., when the real fault is one of workmanship. Adherent color is never dependable.
The Japanese have been the masters of the art of stenciling. The technique and beauty of their designs have not been equalled by any other craftsmen. For centuries these people have been making imprints on fabrics.
The old stencils are more simple and the paper of better quality. These old stencils are always darkened by time.
The stencils shown in the illustration were collected by Ernest Fenollosa, an authority on Japanese art.
Little has been written about these stencils but many museums and school art departments have collections.
In cutting stencils the Japanese use a number of tools. Some of these tools are of the nature of punches, being the shape of the cut out place. There is no drawing on the stencil paper, the workman looks at the design and cuts the pattern free hand. The paper, before cutting, is treated with oil and a kind of lacquer.
The old stencils were strengthened by a net work of human hair placed between two stencils cut at the same time. These stencils were then pasted together with rice paste. This net work of hair serves as ties in the stencil and permits a larger freedom of design than is otherwise possible.
The Japanese use two methods for stenciling, the direct coloring method, in which the dye is brushed on the material through the stencil, and the resist method, in which a paste is rubbed through the stencil on the white goods and the fabric dyed in an all-over bath. The color is set by steaming and the paste washed out. This leaves a white pattern on a colored background.