Making Process

Design Resource

Silk Applique Thangka - Himachal Pradesh

Thangka Silk Applique Work

Prof. Bibhudutta Baral, Divyadarshan C. S. and Vijay G

Making Process

Various color silk fabric is used for different color form and back ground. Color scheme plays a very important role in representing the applique Thangka. Traditionally, thangka painting or applique is started at a particular time which is set by the planetary position.

Silk fabric of required color is selected and one side of the fabric is coated with glue and allowed to set for 5 minutes. Glue give stiffness to the fabric, which makes it easy to handle. Pricked tracing sheet, on which the required design is made is placed on the silk fabric (on the side, where glue is not applied), a cotton pouch containing chalk power is carefully tapped all over the tracing paper. The design is formed on the silk fabric in a dot pattern, using pencil line is drawn over the dotted pattern forming an outline of the complete design.

Horse tail hair is wrapped with pure silk thread and placed on the outline made on the cloth and stitched on the silk fabric. Excess fabric is removed leaving the outline area, all the parts of the art to be made is cut separately, for example hand, leg, head etc. Feature like eyes are created in last, creating eyes is one of the most difficult task as it requires to represent the realistic nature of the eye. The edge of cut pieces are finely cut without damaging the outline thread, to loosen the fabric. EVA (Ethylene-vinyl Acetate) based adhesive is applied at the ends and pasted by folding the ends towards backside of the piece. The glued ends are heated to set the loosen fiber permanently, which helps in shaping the cut piece.

Cut pieces are stitched together to form the complete design. The stitched pieces are fasten to a base silk fabric using adhesive. Once the pieces are set, they are stitched to the base cloth using the required color silk thread. The applique Thangka is attached to a silk brocade border frame in the end. A final glance is made to check if any rectifications has to be done.

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Silk Applique Thangka - Himachal Pradesh