First lessons in batik

by Gertrude Clayton Lewis

A Scarf, showing a combination of tied squares, circles and stripes. Designed by Helen R. Reed

Citrine is a combination of orange and green, and therefore is made up of the primaries, two parts yellow, one red, and one blue. Yellow is in the largest amounts, red next, and blue least.

These three colors are exceedingly valuable to the decorator as each one has an enormous range of tints and shades and the whole group is very pleasing to the eye. There are a few other colors that are so generally used that they deserve special note.

First, brown, theoretically produced by a mixture of citrine and olive or red, blue and yellow. Practically several shades require the addition of black dye to produce brown. A bluish or purplish color according to its shade is its contrast.

Maroon is a red and brown whose contrast is shades of green.

Tints and shades of any full color also give harmonious combinations. The nearer the shade approaches black and the tint approaches white, the greater the contrast. The more closely related the two are the less the contrast.

In considering color combinations we also have the related or analogous group, from which to choose our color schemes. These are in every way more easily handled in dyeing work and are of greater use especially to the beginner.

A tint is secured in dyeing by reducing with water the full strength of the dye and also shortening the time of immersion.

A shade is secured by adding black. Between the full strength of the dye and white, however, lies the range of tints most easily used. Refer to the [Color Chart] for the complements of the tints and shades. These vary in the case of crimson, for instance, from deep crimson through rose to the palest pink tints. Each decided color step in this scale gives related tints that may safely be combined. If they are not far removed from each other in intensity, they give very little contrast, but may be at the same time a very pleasing combination. Considerable contrast may be secured by using tints that are considerably removed from each other in the color scale.