How to Make Watercolor Batik on Rice Paper Step-by-Step Demo
“French Windows.” 12×12″ watercolor batik on rice paper. Click on the image to buy prints or original painting.
Watercolor batik is a painting technique that has been floating around for a while. I have painted on fabric before (not batik method strictly speaking), I knew the theory (basically, you use wax/paraffin in place of masking liquid and rice paper in place of regular watercolor paper) and I kept seeing paintings done in this technique here and there. Finally, months after bookmarking a demo by Kathie George on Artists Network, I decided to give it a try.
Materials and gear:
- Watercolor paints
- Some kind of oriental/rice paper. I used something looking like the regular sumi-e rice paper (the one that has no sizing and makes your paint run like crazy)
- Ink pen (optional). I used Pigma Micron
- Brushes – your regular watercolor brushes plus something designated specifically for applying paraffin. I used a 1.5″ flat bristle brush from a hardware supply store and a couple of smaller bristle brushes.
- Electric griddle or some other way to keep the paraffin melted.
- Paraffin – I used a candle stump
- Iron
- Lots of newspapers/tissue paper/any thin absorbent paper that you can use for ironing the paraffin off your painting
The process
1. Make your drawing if you plan on having the lines. If you need to make a sketch first and then trace it onto the rice paper, be my guest. I drew straight on the rice paper – I think the uneven lines are not so horrible and actually add character.
Here, I already decided what my lightest lights are (a term meaning the areas of the artwork that will be the lightest in value. In watercolor, you typically leave them untouched, no paint at all). I masked them out with melted paraffin.
2. Apply first wash of color. You will be working from light to dark, so decide what your next lightest areas are and fill them in. Often, those are going to be your yellows, as they tend to be light in value. I also painted the bright colors of the flowers on the windowsills at this stage. I wanted to keep them fresh, so no more layers of paint on top.
3. Apply more paraffin to areas that you want to keep the way they are. Paint middle values.
4. Same thing. Mask out the areas that you are happy with and move on with another layer of watercolor. Here I am about to add the darks.
5. The image below is almost completely covered with paraffin.
6. More paraffin, more paint.
7. Once you’re done, cover it all completely with paraffin and crinkle the paper. Apply a wash of color on top. I chose rusty orange to match the color of my ink lines. It will bleed into the cracks and bead on top of paraffin.
This step is optional. If you don’t want the web pattern on top of the painting, feel free to skip it.
8. Newspapers and iron time. Place the painting between several layers of newspaper or tissue paper and keep ironing until all of the paraffin comes off. You will need to change the layers of paper to new ones in the process.
This is what it looked like after removing paraffin. I was fine with it for a day but then decided the white spots in the bottom third of the painting were just too distracting. When I tried painting them over, I couldn’t: there was still some paraffin in the paper. One extra ironing removed it and I was able to tone the white spots down.
Here is the finished version:
Detail views:
And a handy time lapse video: French Windows
Hope you enjoyed it! Questions? Suggestions? Comments?
15 Comments
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Great tutorial – as always. I have done this on fabric and paper with soy wax. It is so much easier to use than paraffin because it can be washed out.
Thanks Shirley! Good tip about soy wax, I will have to try that!
Hey Yevengia.
I love the technique;reminds me of the layering of textures I’d apply during a photo editing phase. However, I have to confess I prefer the more organic application.
A few questions:
1. How long between steps? 2. Will the colors be altered by…time? conditions?3. Will you be experimenting with other subtrates, sizes? Rice Paper seems to have held up.4. What would you do differently next time?
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Janet! Thanks for stopping by. To answer your questions:
1. It took me overall about 12 hours to complete this painting, with not a whole lot of breaks. So…I’d say the paraffin takes around 10-30 minutes to dry, then watercolor takes 15-40 minutes. Or something like that.
2. Honestly, I don’t know exactly about paraffin – but wax is supposed to preserve things, so I would guess that the color should not be affected by time (as long as the pigments are lightfast). Conditions…maybe, but not any worse than works on regular paper or canvas. High humidity should be avoided as a general rule. Rice paper is more fragile than the usual 140lb cotton paper and I think it is supposed to mounted.
3. I have thought of making something in a larger size. Some day
Might try other surfaces, too.
4. Next time…hmm…Yes, I know. Next time I would either pick an easier subject for the size or use a piece of paper at least twice the size of the one I did. Also try to reduce the number of layers. Maybe try that soy wax that Shirley mentioned above.
Amazing! What a lot of work.
I like the batik effect and your tutorial was easy to follow, great work!
I love this! Your composition and colours are amazing and I am definitely inspired to try this. Thanks for sharing.
Love how you have it explained so nicely with images. Nice result too! I took a look at your watercolors on G+.. they are amazing!!
Hey. That is a lovely post. Batik on watercolor is a completely new idea and I think it looks great. Could you do that batik idea on acrylics/oils also? What watercolors are you using btw?
Thank you all for your kind comments! Malvika – I use mostly Daniel Smith and Winsor&Newton watercolor paints, with an occasional other popular brand tube (Holbein, Maimeri Blu, Blick, Utrecht). I haven’t tried this technique with acrylics, but I’m pretty sure you can do that just fine. As for oils, I have no idea.
Wow! This is a great step-by-step tutorial! I can’t imagine that masking can be such a critical and useful steps in art making. It opens up a whole new perspective for me in watercolor realms…which I seldom venture ^^ Thanks!
This is really, really cool! And yes, a lot of work. Someday, when I’m off for a week, I’m going to try it! I never would have thought of the last step of covering the entire thing and then painting over it for the batik effect. Of course, it also helps that your art itself is wonderful, without the extra gimmicks. But this one was worth spending the time on.
You are very kind Melissa
Dear Yevgenia,thanks for sharing so clear!!!
You are very welcome, Rita!