Making Traditional Moravian Blueprint At Home

I’d been wanting to make blueprint at home and this summer I finally got to do it!

I love Czech folklore, especially Moravian which is in my blood. I like going to folkloric festivals, I love celebrating ostatky, hody and even half-forgotten festivities. I especially adore folkloric handicrafts, I admire all the artists with steady hands who paint detailed ornaments, decorate Easter eggs, cross-stitch…and even though I an artist like them, I like to paint a folkloric ornament every now and then.

I have things made from Moravian blueprint or fabrics that imitate it and one day I would like to make a dress with my own blueprint pattern but for now, I’m going to stick to more simple things. For a start, I decided to get a large piece of fabric and paint and stamp different patterns and ornaments planned according to what I would make from each part of that fabric – tote bags, pouches, wallets.

Before I get properly into it, I would like to thank Mr. Dazinger from the family workshop Modrotisk Dazinger (Dazinger Blueprint) for kindly allowing me to use pictures from their website in this article. You will see a link to their website several times here and if you’re ever in the town of Olešnice, you can take a tours in their workshop.

Table of Contents

What is Blueprint

Blueprint (in Czech modrotisk) is a technique if dyeing fabric with indigo that comes from China but the traditional blueprint with it’s typical stamped patterns is a technique traditional to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany. This technique consists of stamping or painting the so-called reserve, also called popp or papp which is a paste for reserving the fabric (its basic ingredients are kaolinite and gum arabic but the exact recipe is a secret of each workshop) and then immersing the fabric into an indigo solution. In this process, the parts covered in reserve would be protected from the color and the rest of the fabric would get dyed. After it’s been immersed several times and hung so that the dye would have time to oxidize and turn blue, the fabric is washed in a vinegar solution that dissolves the reserve.

Blueprint was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2018.

You can see blueprint products as well as parts of kroj (Czech traditional folkloric clothes) at folkloric events all around the Czech Republic.

I have included several interesting links (text and videos) at the end of this article, however, only one video is with English subtitles. In the other video, you can enjoy at least the visual side if you don’t understand Czech and as for the texts, you can always use automatized translations.

Traditional stamps and patterns

The traditional stamps for blueprint are large, wooden (the best wood is pear tree) blocks and the pattern is carved in them or created with thin sheets of metal and wires. The traditional patterns are inspired by nature, you can see a variety of flower and leaf designs. Using stamps makes the pattern regular. There are also blocks for the borders and edges that tend to be more ornamental.

Traditional stamps, Modrotisk Dazinger – www.modrotisk-danzinger.cz/

The craft of making blocks for blueprint is an art itself and blockmasters take years to learn to create them but using them also requires skilled grip as you can see in this video from the Strážnice International Folklore Festival:

Can I dye blueprint at home?

You could get indigo and try to dye your fabric at home, however, the process is about so much more than dyeing and it’s so complex that I doubt the same professional result can be achieved at home. The canvas has to be immersed in large vats with indigo solution and only the professional dyers know how to prepare the solution correctly, how to check whether the reserve isn’t dissolving in the bath, they know how long to let the soaked canvas oxidize and how many times to immerse it. They know how to prevent stains and how to rinse the canvas in vinegar solution to get the reserve off properly.

The workshop will also mangle the canvas and you’ll get a neat package with professionally dyed canvas. Given the difficulty of the process, the size of the equipment and the necessary knowledge and skills the way to get a great result is to have the canvas dyed in a blueprint workshop, although you can buy indigo and try at home, of course. I am lucky enough to live in a country with two workshop who keep the tradition alive. If you are in none of the aforementioned countries, research for workshops and professionals who work with indigo. If you get no results, you can always resort to trying at home.

How I did it

If you’re thinking of creating your very own blueprint at home, I’ll tell you what and how I did. I loved the result, therefore, I am confident about sharing my steps with you. You’ll me doing only part of the process at home – painting and/or stamping the reserve on the canvas. For the dyeing part, you’ll have to find a workshop that will dye it for you. I chose Modrotisk Dazinger in Olešnice, Czech Republic, which is a workshop that has been operating since the first half of the 19th century whilst the tradition of this craft in their family goes back to the 16th century.

You can use your own canvas or purchase it in the workshop if they offer it. The workshop you choose will also probably be where you get the reserve.

In the lines that follow, I will show you how I went about doing the first part of the process – planning the ornaments and painting with the reserve, I’ll also show you the results of using different types of stamps and also the mistakes I made so you don’t have to.

Supplies you’ll need

100% cotton or linen canvas
reserve or papp
container for the reserve
stamps or blueprint blocks
thin brushes
long ruler
pencil
table protection (e.g. tablecloth)

I bought 3 meters of cotton canvas of 80 cm in width. It took quite a lot of time to have this piece of fabric ready for dyeing but it was worth it starting with a larger piece because I wanted to try different stamps, pain several ornaments and I wanted to have plenty of fabric to make gifts.

I bought 1 dl of reserve which should be enough for 5 meters of fabric, I have about a half of it left. If you have some left, make sure it doesn’t freeze.

As for the container, it should be large enough to fit your largest stamp or block and comfortable to dip the brush in. I recommend larger shallow containers.

Choose rather hard stamps with deep carved pattern. Potato stamps aren’t recommended and I cannot recommend silicone stamps either as the reserve doesn’t stick to them at all. Working with soft stamps (e.g. from Eva foam) can be a bit difficult but it can be done. I find wooden stamps the best although working with regular wooden stamps for home crafts wasn’t without its problems either. So far I haven’t found stamps that I would be absolutely happy with and if you know what the blocks for blueprint look like, I haven’t seen such a high pattern in regular stamps. In the tutorial, I will show you the problems that I encountered working with different kinds of stamps.

Get really thin brushes and at least two of them, if you want to not only stamps but also paint. You can also paint with a toothpick, wooden stick with a point or a pointy plastic tube with small opening. Brushes work best for me though.

Table protection can be a mat, tablecloth or a sheet, anything that will protect the table or the surface you’re working on. The reserve will seep through. However, if it does get onto your table, it’s quite easily wiped off.

How to make homemade blueprint

First, iron the canvas well. As I work, the fabric gets crumpled up very fast and you can see that on the photos but I re-iron every part of the canvas before I draw or paint on it.

Planning and tracing

If you want to use small stamps like I did or paint small regular shapes, you need to make some guide frame. The workshop recommends to leave 3 cm/1.18 in around all edges free, so I measured and made a line at this distance from the edge on all four sides of the fabric (red line in the photo). I actually used these 3cm edges to test some of my stamps.

I decided to apply the stamps at 5 cm/2 in distance, so I measured points 5 cm from each other along both long sides of the fabric (blue dots in the photo). I didn’t connect them and I’ll use a long ruler as a guide later.

If you want to paint ornaments, plan where they’ll be. It’s better to know what you’re going to do with each part of the fabric so you can plan the ornament and its size accordingly. Don’t forget about the seam allowance for sewing.

Tracing ornaments

I wouldn’t even think of painting the ornaments without tracing them first. I trace them with a pencil with most of the details and once the fabric comes back from the workshop, the pencil will have washed off.

This is my usual position when I trace the ornaments – the canvas is extended on a large table and I’m almost lying on it. This gives me better control over the regularity of the ornament.

Painting

Before you start, make sure to mix the reserve properly. I find shaking the bottle does the job. If I pour the reserve first and then mix it with a brush, there are always traces of darker green, whilst properly mixed reserve is light green. In the picture, you can see the nicely unified light green in the upper part of the reserve and the dark green traces in the lower part.

The reserve can be thinned down with water but whenever I mixed in just a few drops of water, the reserve would become too liquid and the pattern would blur. Pour just a little reserve in the container, it thickens after some time. I don’t thin it with water even then.

Place the protection sheet on the table and extend the ironed canvas on it.

I dip just the tip of the brush and I wipe it often to prevent large drops of reserve. Next time, I will use even thinner brushes though.

I tried painting with a pointy wooden stick – it’s good for making tiny dots but I not so much for lines.

After I was finished painting the ornaments, I let them dry properly.

Stamping

The stamping will go better of you spread the reserve in a thin layer before you dip the stamp. It will help prevent the reserve from getting between the pattern and making smudges on the fabric. This was harder with some stamps. I discarded the silicone stamps right away as the reserve doesn’t stick to it at all.

Smaller foam stamps were also not good (e.g. tiny hearts), any shape would just create a stain. I used larger foam stamps, applying the reserve on them by a brush.

And those were ok, the pattern turned out nice although the work was very slow.

The stamps I used the most were small wooden stamps. They don’t have a deep enough pattern either and the reserve did get into the spaces but I wanted to stamp small patterns, therefore, I had to make it work. This is when I used the long ruler again. I connected the opposite 5 cm marks and stamped at every 5 cm.

With round stamps, I marked the upper side so I would not stamp the pattern upside down.

I added simple dots (with a brush) to the stamped patterns.

I kept enough distance between the stamps and painted ornaments.

I let the stamped pattern dry properly. The whole work took me around 3 days but I wasn’t working the same amount of time every day.

Mistakes

I made several mistakes in the process. I will be able to avoid some of them next time, others I will continue on battling because I do not have ideal equipment. Despite of the mistakes, I am happy with the result.

Planning mistakes

I imagined the work would be faster. I didn’t know exactly what it all entailed and I thought it would be possible for me to trace, paint and stamp in one day. In the end, even measuring the edges took a long time and tracing the ornaments even more. Remember that your arms, hands and back also need a break.

Painting the ornaments took long because they’re detailed and I wanted to be very exact. The hardest part was the stamping though. Since I do not have large blocks, I had to stamp each small pattern individually. Moreover, I had to constantly watch the ruler to be in place. Next time I’ll plan the work over several days.

Thick layer of reserve

Sometimes the reserve was in a thick layer and even though I dipped the stamps carefully, it did get into the spaces and the pattern wouldn’t stamp well. In this case I had to get the reserve out of the spaces with a brush. Once this happens, the best is to wash and dry the stamp but it means interrupting the process.

I have two solutions for this. The first one is to apply the reserve on the stamp with a brush which makes the process even longer. The second and better solution is to find a container where it’s possible to spread the reserve very thin. I was using a plastic ice cream container where this was not possible so for next time I’ll have to find a better surface.

Insufficiently mixed reserve

I was painting my third ornament when I realized the reserve wasn’t mixed well. The liquid in the container had dark green traces in it instead of being all light green and the dry reserve on the ornaments wasn’t unified in color. Solution? Paint everything again. I also discovered that shaking the bottle works better than mixing the reserve after I pour it.

Problematic stamps

I went into the detail regarding the stamps in the tutorial. I think this is as good as it gets in home conditions and I can still get very nice results that I’m happy with.

Blurred pattern and drops

It happened to me only once that the reserve would drop from a stamp to where it shouldn’t but blurred pattern occurred more often due to the reserve getting in the spaced between the pattern of the stamp. Sometimes this happened when I thinned the reserve down with water which I won’t do every again. I already told you what to do to not get the reserve in the spaces but what to do if there is already a blur or a drop? Nothing much, actually, wiping it won’t help. The best solution is to make the mistake part of your design.

Sending canvas for dyeing

When everything was dry, I folded and packed the canvas and sent it to the workshop. I had my beautiful blueprint design back in a few weeks. Follow the instructions of your chosen workshop.

Further use and how to take care of Blueprint

You can use the blueprint canvas for any project that requires a 100 % cotton or linen canvas – cushions, tote bags, folkloric skirts…

I intend to sew bags like this one, several zipper pouches and wallets.

If you want your blueprint to stay beautiful for a long time, only wash it in hand in soapy water and don’t machine dry it. At the beginning, it’s necessary to rinse it properly in clean water several times and add some vinegar to the last rinse. Never wash blueprint with other laundry, the indigo stains. Stiffen it with a bit of laundry starch and iron on the right side while the fabric is a little damp and using steam with your iron.