Gan Caiyun: Batik Technology "Color Contrast" Winter Olympics

At the beginning of winter, the sky of Zhangjiakou, the Pearl outside the Great Wall, is so blue and blue that the Winter Olympic Games venue has already been covered with snow, which seems to be the main color of this season. More than 200 kilometers away, on the north shore of Bohai Bay, the winter sun is warm. In the studio of batik art lover Gan Caiyun, one blue and one white work together on one batik painting, presenting the "blue and white contract" of the Winter Olympics.

Gan Caiyun, 46, is an art teacher and meticulous painter in Fengnan District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. In 2019, she came across batik in Xiangxi by chance, and was deeply attracted at that time. Then she learned from her teacher and devoted herself to her research.

Batik is a traditional Chinese folk textile printing and dyeing handicraft. It was called batik in ancient times. It was also called the four major printing techniques in ancient China, together with tie dyeing, grey printing and clip dyeing. It uses a wax knife to dip the wax into the cloth, and then dip and dye it with indigo to remove the wax. The cloth surface presents various patterns of white flowers on blue background or blue flowers on white background. Due to its rich patterns, simple and elegant colors and unique style, batik is mostly used to make clothing and various practical articles for life.

"This kind of technique is quite popular in the south, but it is rare in the north." according to Gan Caiyun, batik requires more than a dozen processes, from line drawing, waxing, dip dyeing, oxidation, dewaxing, rinsing, to the production of finished products. Each step determines the level of the final work and tests the ability of the creator.

Gan Caiyun, who has studied painting since childhood, has never stopped creating for more than 30 years. Her work "housewife" has won the gold medal in the National Teachers' skill calligraphy, painting and photography skills competition. It is because of her profound art background that in her batik works, besides paintings, there are more than ten kinds of varieties, such as bags, pillows, pendants, scarves, clothes, tea flags, and coasters. She integrates ancient crafts into every detail of her daily life.

On that day, in gancaiyun's antique studio, the fragrance was dense. The batik works such as flying sky, Mu Guiying and monkey king were very exquisite, and a piece of beautiful Beijing ZhangXue Winter Olympics was particularly amazing. Gan Caiyun said that when the countdown to the Winter Olympics was 100 days ago, the idea of creating Winter Olympics works came into her mind, which was also the first step in her creation of the theme of the Winter Olympics.

In the space with strong artistic sense, the line composition of "blue and white charm" series is simple and beautiful. A few strokes not only highlight the sports characteristics of the Winter Olympics, but also perfectly present the beauty of batik. Gan Caiyun told reporters that the selection of Winter Olympic elements as batik creation materials is a completely different creative experience, and the sketch of streamline lines can be seen in skill.

In addition to all kinds of ice and snow themed paintings, hand-made works such as ice pier and snow Rongrong can also be seen everywhere. Because the northern winter temperature is low, will affect the color effect after oxidation, gancaiyun has dyed the cloth before the cold. "Now concentrate on creation and teaching. The school children are also interested in this. I will let the children learn about batik in class, and pass on this ancient art," she said.

On the workbench, the wax has been boiled, and the canvas has been flattened. Gan Caiyun chooses a small copper wax knife and dips in the wax solution to seal the wax on the canvas. Gan Caiyun said that she is addicted to blue and white art. At present, she can only hide the Winter Olympic Games on the canvas. She hopes to bring these small gifts to the Winter Olympics arena to realize the yearning "blue and white contract".

(source: China News Network)

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