Mane Grigoryan
Portfolio II
Introduction
Since 2016 I have been making batik scarves, painting on t-shirts and on tablecloths. I have learned this technique at Art school where I attended for 5 years, as an extracurricular activity. One of the biggest reasons why I love doing batik and painting on other textiles is because I could make unique clothes or scarves that meet the desires of the orderer and are artworks at the same time.
After becoming very proficient in this field I was offered to do master classes in batik and textiles at the Haghatsin week festival. I was teaching the visitors and tourists how they can easily custom their own clothes. Additionally, I started my own small business and run it until 2019, by opening a page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/manebatik
and registered for many masterclasses and festivals. With the help of my friends, I managed to promote my handmade products in my local community, and have had some orders from the US, UK, and Canada too.
Autumn-style batik scarves
The area where I leave is surrounded by mountains and forests. During Autumn the colours become very bright and reddish or yellowish leaves are all over the streets. People here, usually wear grey, blue or black, and I wanted to add some vivid colours to our days, y making a product which could be affordable and unique. The process of making one scarf takes me about 12-16 hours. I firstly do a sketch transfer it to silk and fix the edges by gutta. After 6-8 our of drying I start painting with special colors, and usually I use some techniques with salt and wax.
Alphabet scarves
Armenian alphabet scarves which I started making, became quite popular among people who are Armenians but live abroad. For them wearing a scarf or any other item that reminds them of the homeland was pleasurable. This example shows, how handmade and unique items can change the mood of the person, and make their day better.
For this kind of scarves, I used 1m x2m, or 1.5m x0.5m silk, started painting a frame whish was 6m in length, or did some pomegranate designs. I did not want my product to be boring and usual, and instead of painting letters that have an ordinary font, I decided to use "bird-shaped letters".
Gustav Klimt -style batik
Gustav Klimt is one of my favourite artists. I like the colour palette he uses and especially the ideas and philosophy he has behind his paintings. Although painting a human face on silk was not a standard work, I still managed to get a good result by using layers like in watercolour. This kind of works show how favourite paintings can become an item that you can wear on yourself and be sure that no one else has exactly the same, because handmade things - especially batik, are very hard to repeat.
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |