What is antique batik?

Batik is an ancient folk traditional printing and dyeing handicraft in China, which was called wax valerian and "clip valerian" in ancient times.

Penetration carving and tie-dyeing are collectively called the three major printing technologies in ancient China. Batik, called wax valerian in ancient times, is to use wax to dot patterns on linen, weaving, cotton, wool and other fabrics, and then put them into a dyeing vat for dip dyeing. Where there is wax, the color can't be dyed. If the wax is removed, beautiful patterns will appear. This is an ancient anti-dyeing process in China with a very long history.

The earliest batik cultural relic discovered in China is the northern blue wax valerian wool fabric unearthed from the ancient city site of Yutianfu, Laike, Xinjiang. When unearthed, the color is dark blue, with white patterns on the surface, bright and clean, simple and elegant. The time is from 396 to 58 1.

Batik technology has been passed down from generation to generation in ethnic minority areas in southwest China, especially in Guizhou. It inherits and develops the traditional batik process, and spreads widely, becoming an indispensable art in the life of minority women. Batik is the main decoration of ethnic minorities here. The headscarves, vests, clothes, skirts and leggings of Miao women in Ping Huang, Chong 'anjiang and Danzhai counties are batik. Others are umbrella covers, pillow towels, rice basket covers, bags and straps. It is also batik. Miao women in Anshun and Puding decorate the edges of sleeves, skirts and clothes with batik patterns. They carry their children's batik suspenders, and they dot dye them exquisitely. In addition to blue and white, some of them are dyed with red, yellow and green, becoming colorful batiks.

At present, batik can be roughly divided into three categories: one is folk handicrafts, which are batik products made by folk artists and rural women in southwest minority areas. One is arts and crafts, which are batik products produced by factories and workshops for the market. The third category is batik paintings, which are purely decorative works of art made with artists as the center. These three batiks exist, interact and compete with each other. Such a complex and diverse phenomenon is rare in the art world.

Batik fabrics are usually made of folk self-woven white homespun, but also organically woven white cloth, cotton silk and poplin. The main resist is yellow wax (beeswax), and some are mixed with white wax. Beeswax is the secretion of wax glands in the abdomen of bees. It is insoluble in water, but it can melt when heated. People use it as a preservative for batik because of its characteristics. The dye used is indigo produced in Guizhou.

The tool for drawing wax flowers is not a brush, but a homemade steel knife. Because the brush dipped in wax is easy to cool and solidify, the steel painting knife is easy to keep warm. This steel knife consists of two or more thin copper sheets with the same shape, one end of which is tied to a wooden handle. The knife edge is slightly open and the middle is slightly empty, which is beneficial to dipping beeswax. According to the needs of drawing various lines, there are different specifications of copper knives, generally semi-circular, triangular, axe-shaped and so on.

Batik production is more complicated. Before batik, treat the cloth, boil it into paste with bletilla striata or konjac, size it, dry it, and grind it flat for later use. First, determine the position of the painting on the cloth and make the overall composition of the pattern. For example, when Danzhai Miao batik folk artists start painting, they first draw a rough grass pattern with their nails, and then measure the distance with straw or bamboo pieces, so they can draw various patterns at will, most of which are ancient traditional patterns. When drawing wax, put the wax in a small pot and bake it with charcoal, then dip it with a copper knife and draw a pattern on the canvas. Dip the patterned cloth in an indigo vat. After the initial dyeing, the color is very light, and it needs to be repeated many times to reach dark blue, with a cycle of five to six days. If you want the same pattern to have two colors, you can dye it light blue first, seal the light blue part with wax after drying, then dip it into dark blue in a vat, and boil off the wax to finally get dark blue and light blue; After batik is done, it should be boiled in water and dewaxed; The dewaxed canvas is washed with water and then dried to obtain batik finished products.