MADHUBANI PAINTING

ABOUT:  The art of Madhubani painting, is the traditional style developed in mithila region in the villages around Madhubani, Bihar.  Madhubani literally means a forest of honey.  Now work is now being done on paper, cloth etc., for commercial purposes.  The themes and designs widely painted are the worship of Hindu deities such as Krishna, Rama,Siva, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Sun and Moon, Tulsi, Plant, Court scenes, Wedding scenes, Social happenings around them etc.  Floral, animal and bird motifs, geometrical designs are used to fill up all the gaps.

 Madhubani paintings are of 3-styles:-
1.Brahmin Style
2.Tatoo Style
3.Kshatriya Style

It is a very simple art form of painting. You Don’t need any specialized knowledge.

Materials Required :
1.Cloth or Handmade paper
2.Trace paper
3.Fabric colours(for cloth)
4.Poster colours (for paper)
5.Black out liner
6.Carbon sheet

 



METHOD:

1)Choose a design

2)First draw the required pattern on the trace paper and copy the design into the cloth/paper using carbon sheet.

3)If using Cloth Paint using fabric colors and let it dry well.Use Poster colours for paper.The colours are applied flat with no shading. There is normally a double line drawn for the outlines, with the gap between the lines filled by cross or straight tiny lines. In the linear painting, no colours are applied. Only the outlines are drawn.

4)Draw outlines using the black color and again leave it to dry for 24 hours.If applying on cloth iron on the back side of the cloth.

TIPS:

a)Choose a design that is colorful.  It is often seen that tradionally there are only basic colours used like orange , green and red but you can add colurs like pink, purple, blue to make it more attractive.

b)Choose a design that it is easy to make. The design pattern should be simple and clear.

c)Trace the design well.  Otherwise, definitely find yourself in trouble later. You can make improvements in designs like changing the features of face, as it generally seen features in Madhubani are not sharp.

d)Choose a theme.If you are making more than one painting then choose a theme eg.Krishna because each painting has certain meaning or situation

e)Don't limit youself .If you don't want a painting then you can always make a bookmark, card or table mats with Madhubani and laminate them.Add beautiful Border .Make sure you have a border . It will add new dimensions to your painting.

TYPES OF FABRIC PRINTING

There are various methods of applying color to fabric that come under the topic PRINTING.  Those that can be carried out at home are considered here.

BLOCK PRINTING: Block printing is one of the earliest forms of printing and, if done carefully, it can produce effective designs.  Beginning with a block of wood, cut out a patter on its surface to create a raised design.  Nowadays ready made blocks are available in wood stores and in dye stores. We can show the required design to a carpenter to made.  This must be done accurately as any marks in the raised part of the wood will be transferred to the fabric.  Next, cover the design in paint, either by brushing it with paint or by dipping it into paint so it is evenly coated, and then press the block down on to the fabric.  Finally lift the block off the fabric slowly and evenly.  If another color is required the first application of paint must be completely dry before the next one is added, and each color uses a new block.

SCREEN PRINTING:  Unlike block printing, screen requires some specialist equipment.  It is necessary to have a fine mesh screen and a squeegee which is used to spread the paint.  Screen printing is time consuming and ,as a  different screen is needed for every color used, it can be little bit expensive to do at home.
This method is useful for simple designs with specific areas of color because the design is built up, one color at a time.  First, the design needs to be created in stencil form; so, for example, there might be one stencil for a flower stem and leaf(green or brown), and one for the flower's petals(red).  The stencils are cut out of a thin sheet of card or plastic film which the dye cannot penetrate.  The stem and leaf stencil is then placed inside the screen, which is laid on top of the fabric.  Green or brown paint is put at the top edge of the screen, and the squeegee is used to spread the paint evenly across the stencil.  In the process the paint pushes through the gaps in the stencil.  Once this is dry a different screen, containing red  paint and the flower stencil, is needed to complete the picture.



STENCIL PRINTING:  Screen printing is developed from the Japanese technique of stenciling.  To stencil, cut the desired shape to be printed  out of paper or card.  Then apply the stencil paint with a brush or sponge, to color those parts of the fabric that are exposed by the stencil.  Once again this technique must be cried out with care, to avoid smudging the printed shape.  Keep the fabric as taut as possible and hold the stencils firmly in place.  When the paint is dry the stencils should be lifted slowly from the fabric.














TRANSFER PRINTING:  This method of printing literally transfers a design from one medium to another.  Commercially produced transfers are available for use on fabric, or one can use transfer inks or pens or crayons to produce a design, which is then transferred to the fabric.  Transfers are created on special paper using disperse dyes.  Place the transfer, design side down, on to the fabric and apply heat by ironing the back of the paper.  This causes the dye to change from a solid to a gas, and soak into the fabric, where it returns to solid form.  The dye is also made colorfast during this process.  The only difficulty that can arise is remembering to create the design back to front.