Thursday, March 24, 2011

Miao Batik

While I was in Hong Kong, I saw this piece of batik fabric, blue with an intricate white pattern. I immediately wanted to experiment and see if I could create a batik-like effect with a linoleum print. I had no idea what the fabric was, just that it was from Beijing, and with a little research I found out that it is a hand-painted batik from the Miao people of Guizhou province.



These pieces are all hand-painted with wax and then dyed a deep blue, and I found some process pictures via the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Photo via Minneapolis Institute of Arts Flickr

Photo via Minneapolis Institute of Arts Flickr

Photo via Minneapolis Institute of Arts
So I decided to try my own version of the Miao batik patterns, carved from linoleum rather than painted with wax, and here is what I came up with:



And the finished product, an indigo blue print on recycled card stock:




It definitely has a brighter, more modern look than the original piece, and that is exactly what I was going for: a new take on the original. The cards are now available right here in the shop.

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