First lessons in batik

For those who have not had an opportunity of studying color, the following explanation of the theory of mixing colors may not be amiss.

Yellow, red, and blue are called the standard or primary colors. From these we make the three binary or secondary colors, orange, green, and violet.

Orange is produced by mixing red and yellow.

Green is produced by mixing blue and yellow.

Violet is produced by mixing red and blue.

These primary and binary colors are thought of as though they were arranged in a circle.

Divide the circumference of a circle in six equal parts. Draw three diameters through the points found. Begin at the top with yellow. One-sixth of the distance to the left, we place orange, at the next diameter’s end place red. At the bottom of the circle opposite yellow is violet. Passing upward toward the right blue is opposite orange, and continuing upward, green is opposite red. The colors at opposite ends of the three diameters are called complements.

Yellow is the complement of violet and violet of yellow.

Orange is the complement of blue and blue of orange.

Red is the complement of green and green of red.

The outside of the circle in the cut represents the full strength of the pure color. The addition of different amounts of white and black is indicated by the inner circles, the center standing for pure white or pure black. The circle may be subdivided to suggest many gradations from the full color through the tints to white and by the addition of black through the shades to black. This system of gradation is a help in determining the contrast of tints, but is more useful in helping to determine related harmonies up and down the scale from black to the pure color and then through the tints to white.

Red, with one part of white added, would be indicated by the second circle. Its complement would be the green found on the second circle, which has an equal amount of white mixed with it, producing a tint. The same arrangement holds true with regard to black. Each circle represents also one portion of black added to the standard color, producing a shade. There is an almost indefinite number of these tints and shades, depending upon their location within the color circle.

It is found that equal parts of the primary colors red, yellow, and blue make neutral grey. Any binary color plus a primary color makes grey. For instance, a binary green, which is made of the two primaries yellow and blue, added to a primary red produces grey.

In the same way, a binary orange, which is a combination of primary red and yellow, added to blue makes grey.

A binary violet, which is primary red and blue, added to yellow makes grey.

Colors may be softened or greyed by adding a little black or brown dye or by adding the complementary color. A bright green, for instance, is softened either by adding a little black or brown or the complement of green, which is red.

Dyes are mixed in much the same manner as paints and it is necessary to know the action of one color upon another. Especially must one know how grey is produced so as not to produce this effect when such a result is undesirable and yet avoid too vivid combinations. In mixing dyes both brown and black are valuable to tone down the clear colors. There need be no fear of producing a muddy color by adding black or brown dye to the colors, as is produced by adding black paint, because the black dye is made up of particles of other colors.

Valuable help in reproducing color combinations is found in keeping a record of the amounts and colors used, the weight or size of material dyed, and the length of time the goods is in the dye bath.

If commercial dyes are used, follow the directions given exactly as on the package.

“Top dyeing” means to dye over another color.

The material may be a light blue. Over this or on top of this, a green is dyed, giving a blue green result.

In dyeing one color over another the result naturally depends upon the strength of the first as well as upon that of the succeeding dyes. As yellow is nearest white in value, it is wise to dye yellow first if other colors are to be added. If the yellow is weak the other dyes will be very little affected by it as they are much stronger. If a strong yellow has been used first, the following modifications may be expected:

COLOR TABLE FOR TOP DYEING

• Orange over yellow will give orange yellow.
• Red over yellow will give red orange.
• Blue over yellow will give green.
• Green over yellow will give yellow green.
• Violet or magenta over yellow will give grey.
• Brown over yellow will give yellow brown.
• Black over yellow will give grey.

If a blue dye is to be used first, the following suggestions may help. Accordingly as the blue used is strong or weak, it will appear in the resulting combination strongly or weakly. The top dye used over it will equally of course count in the resulting combination according as it is strong or weak. Having these two points in mind we can say:

• Red over blue will give purple.
• Violet over blue will give blue violet.
• Green over blue will give blue green.
• Yellow over blue will give green.
• Brown over blue will give dark brown.
• Black over blue will give blue black.

With red as the basic color, and with the strength of color in mind as suggested before, we find that

• Orange over red will give orange red.
• Yellow over red will give orange.
• Green over red will give dark grey, green or red.
• Blue over red will give violet.
• Violet over red will give red violet.
• Brown over red will give red brown.
• Black over red will give grey red.

The following mixtures of dyes are valuable:

• Yellow, orange and blue with yellow predominating make gold.
• Orange and green with orange predominating give russet shades.
• Orange, green and red give orange brown.
• Orange, blue and magenta give bronze.

In studying out the color scheme of any piece it is desirable to refer to the Color Chart for contrasts, related colors and combinations that are not familiar.

If a perfect balance of contrast of any tint of a color is desired, the contrasting tint must show the same proportion of white in its make-up; but the contrast may be made more decided by choosing a lighter contrasting tint.

Yellow has the tendency to come nearer the observer and it adds warmth and brilliancy to all its combinations with other colors. Red is less brilliant than yellow, but it is the most intense and positive of all the colors. Blue is the retreating cold color. It shows its quality best by daylight. Blue and white are the strongest color contrasts excepting black and white.

Green, composed of the primaries yellow and blue, is capable of great variation from cool to warm according to the amount of either blue or yellow entering into it. Its contrast is red.

Orange is the most brilliant of the secondary colors. It is most useful when toned down to old gold and russet.

Violet is the darkest of the secondary colors. As it contains much blue it has a tendency to fade into a neutral brownish color by artificial light.

The tertiary colors russet, olive, and citrine are most valuable.

Russet is made up of orange and violet, which again are composed of yellow, blue, and red. Red being in both of these colors, russet evidently belongs to the red group of colors, and contains a smaller proportion of both yellow and blue. The contrast to russet is from deep green to blue grey for a very orange shade.

Olive is dominantly a blue color as it is made from green and violet, both of which contain blue. The contrast of olive is deep orange.

Citrine is a combination of orange and green, and therefore is made up of the primaries, two parts yellow, one red, and one blue. Yellow is in the largest amounts, red next, and blue least.

These three colors are exceedingly valuable to the decorator as each one has an enormous range of tints and shades and the whole group is very pleasing to the eye. There are a few other colors that are so generally used that they deserve special note.

First, brown, theoretically produced by a mixture of citrine and olive or red, blue and yellow. Practically several shades require the addition of black dye to produce brown. A bluish or purplish color according to its shade is its contrast.

Maroon is a red and brown whose contrast is shades of green.

Tints and shades of any full color also give harmonious combinations. The nearer the shade approaches black and the tint approaches white, the greater the contrast. The more closely related the two are the less the contrast.

In considering color combinations we also have the related or analogous group, from which to choose our color schemes. These are in every way more easily handled in dyeing work and are of greater use especially to the beginner.

A tint is secured in dyeing by reducing with water the full strength of the dye and also shortening the time of immersion.

A shade is secured by adding black. Between the full strength of the dye and white, however, lies the range of tints most easily used. Refer to the Color Chart for the complements of the tints and shades. These vary in the case of crimson, for instance, from deep crimson through rose to the palest pink tints. Each decided color step in this scale gives related tints that may safely be combined. If they are not far removed from each other in intensity, they give very little contrast, but may be at the same time a very pleasing combination. Considerable contrast may be secured by using tints that are considerably removed from each other in the color scale.

Still another group of color harmonies must be considered. This is the harmony of related colors. By this is meant the harmony of all colors of which blue, for example, forms a part. This group runs all the way from the purplish blues formed by adding red through all the different blues to blue greens made by adding yellow.

This grouping is especially useful in dyeing, as we can dye in one such group very effectively, starting with the yellow found in the blue green and working toward the red found in the violet blues.

For dyeing purposes we can really make just two color groups—the blue just given and the red. The red group starts with the red violets, which contain, of course, red and blue, and goes through the red group into the orange, which is red and yellow.

PLEASING COLOR COMBINATIONS

The following table of harmonizing colors is inserted as a guide for those who do not have a scientific knowledge of Color and its many harmonies:

• Black harmonizes with crimson, lemon, yellow.
• Black harmonizes with scarlet, blue, green.
• Black harmonizes with citrine.
• Black harmonizes with olive.
• Black harmonizes with salmon.
• Black harmonizes with primrose.
• Black harmonizes with corn color.
• Black harmonizes with orange.
• Black harmonizes with gold.
• Black harmonizes with white.
• White harmonizes with cerise.
• White harmonizes with scarlet.
• White harmonizes with orange.
• Violet harmonizes with scarlet, blue, orange.
• Violet harmonizes with scarlet, gold.
• Violet harmonizes with corn color.
• Violet harmonizes with gold.
• Violet harmonizes with citrines.
• Violet harmonizes with yellow.
• Orange harmonizes with violet.
• Orange harmonizes with blue, scarlet, green.
• Orange harmonizes with purple, scarlet.
• Orange harmonizes with crimson, blue.
• Orange harmonizes with brown.
• Orange harmonizes with violet.
• Orange harmonizes with blue.
• Dark Green harmonizes with crimson, blue, gold.
• Dark Green harmonizes with gold.
• Blue Green harmonizes with orange.
• Green harmonizes with russet.
• Green harmonizes with scarlet.
• Green harmonizes with red.
• Yellow harmonizes with violet, scarlet, blue.
• Yellow harmonizes with brown.
• Yellow harmonizes with deep crimson.
• Yellow harmonizes with blue.
• Yellow harmonizes with violet.
• Crimson harmonizes with black.
• Crimson harmonizes with violet.
• Crimson harmonizes with corn color.
• Crimson harmonizes with orange.
• Crimson harmonizes with gold.
• Crimson harmonizes with yellow, green.
• Scarlet harmonizes with blue, grey.
• Scarlet harmonizes with violet.
• Scarlet harmonizes with blue.
• Scarlet harmonizes with blue, green.
• Red harmonizes with white.
• Red harmonizes with grey.
• Red harmonizes with blue.
• Red harmonizes with gold.
• Red harmonizes with green.
• Blue harmonizes with brown, crimson, gold.
• Blue harmonizes with orange, green.
• Blue harmonizes with orange, black.
• Blue harmonizes with black.
• Blue harmonizes with white.
• Blue harmonizes with chocolate brown.
• Blue harmonizes with neutral grey.
• Blue harmonizes with salmon.
• Blue harmonizes with straw.
• Blue harmonizes with corn color.
• Blue harmonizes with gold.
• Blue harmonizes with orange.