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.
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.
