Tanjore painting

BOARD PREPARATION:

Materials :
Whitening powder/ putty chalk powder,
White long cloth – ½ mtr,
dilute fevicol,
3mm marineply plywood in the size necessary – 18”x14”,
Gum Arabic solution,
Yellow oxide powder,
Glass paper weight/ fine sand paper.

Method :

1. Soak the cloth in plain water for 30 mins, rinse out the starch amd squeeze out the water.
2. Now, dip the cloth in dilute fevicol, so that the cloth is fully coated with fevicol.
3. Now squeeze out the excess fevicol and jerk the cloth to remove the creases on the cloth.
4. Place the cloth on one side of the plywood board and stretch the cloth and cover the board like
covering a book, fold over the edges of the cloth on the back of the board and make sure that the cloth
has at least 2” to fold over on each side.
5. If needed, apply a little dilute fevicol on the folded part to make sure that the cloth doesn’t peel
off.

6. Now, mix the below materials in the proportion:

Yellow oxide : Putty chalk : Gum Arabic : Dilute Fevicol
powder powder

pinch : 1 : 3 : 1

7. If needed, add a little water to the solution, mix well avoid lumps, use a flat brush and
apply the mixed solution on the cloth stuck to the board.
8. First apply vertical strokes and then horizontal strokes.
9. Let the coating dry till it is touch dry.
10, Wait for a day and give a second coating, repeat coatings for 2-3 days till 4-5 coatings
are over.
11.Now use the glass paper weight/fine sand paper and rub on the surface of the coated
board until the surface is smooth to touch.
12. Now the board is ready to use.

MUCK PREPARATION.

MATERIALS:
Gum Arabic solution,
Putty chalk powder,
spoon,
dish,
water,
plastic sheet to make a cone,
tooth pick or needle of a syringe,
a georgette dupatta,
airtight glass or plastic container.

METHOD :
1. 1st sieve the chalk powder using 2 layers of the georgette dupatta, and measure the sieved powder with a
scoop.
2. Mix Putty chalk : Gum Arabic in the proportion ---->
3 1/2 scoops : 1 scoop.
3. Add a little water, the mixture should be thoroughly mixed without any lumps. The consistency should be
dripping, when you take a pinch of muck between your fore -finger and thumb and take your fingers apart,
there should be a sticky thread between your fingers (1 thread consistency).
4. Now this is the 1st muck which should be stored.
1st LAYER MUCK :

1.To 1 scoop of the prepared muck, add water a few drops at a time, so that the consistency becomes that of a
dosa batter i.e., pouring consistency.

2. There should be no lumps in the mixture, this is used for the 1st layer of muck which is used
to cover the semi precious stones which are stuck on the board and it is used to fill the parts
where gold 3 dimensional effect is to be given.

2nd LAYER MUCK : 1.

Take 1 scoop of the prepared muck, and a few drops of water so that the muck gets a
dripping consistency like idli batter – there should be no lumps in the muck.
2.This is used for the filigree work done on top of the 1st layer muck, and for this this is
filled in a mehendi cone and sealed.
STONE WORK :
1. The stones are stuck on the drawing where required, using fevicol, then covered with 1st layer muck.
2.Then, after the muck layer has completely dried, the muck covered stone is wiped with a damp soft cloth to
expose the stone. 3.Then, the filigree work is done wherever necessary using the muck filled cone.

GOLD WORK :
1. The muck and stone surfaces are then stuck with 22 karat Gold foil, using the gum Arabic solution.
2.Then the places in the stones are covered are exposed using a sharp stitch ripper, extra gold outside
the muck are
trimmed using a cutter.
The board is wiped clean of any trace of gum and then the painting is started.

GUM ARABIC SOLUTION PREPARATION:

1. Soak the gum Arabic crystals, in a glass or plastic container and fill it with hot water till the water covers up
to 1” above the crystals level.
2. Stir the mixture several times, soak for a period of about 2 days. 3.After it has become gelatinous,
thoroughly squeeze the soaked crystals with your hand just like you extract tamarind paste.
4. Then sieve the paste using a double layer of georgette dupatta and squeeze until you get a nice clean thick
gum paste without any lumps, discard the dirty residue.
5.Now store this gum airtight in a plastic or glass bottle.

Material: plywood(6mm) waterproof board,

Lining cloth, arabicgum, tamarind seed powder, chalkpowder, gold foil, tanjore stones ,
xactoknife.

Step1: board prep: mix tamarind seed powder and chalkpowder in 1:1 ratio and stick the
cloth in horizontal.and vertical way with brush 6-7 times, let the paste dry each time before
you apply next coat