All about applications

If you literally translate the term "application" from Latin, you get something like "attachment" or "attachment". So once upon a time, many centuries ago, they called sewing on fabric or gluing various fragments to paper: fabric or paper, straw, fur, and other materials. Today, the application technique is so many-sided that new directions in this type of creativity still do not cease to appear.

To perceive the application only as a childish form of creativity would be an obvious injustice. Some artists inspire people all over the world with their works. And adults, too, are happy to do decorative applique work from the simplest materials.

Although the introduction to this technique begins, no doubt, at the age of preschoolers. Children learn to cut, glue, get one solid and beautiful canvas from different fragments. Artistic images can be of different shapes, sizes, can use homogeneous materials, or combine things that differ in texture and texture.

It is difficult to say what is the most fashionable in applique right now. Most likely, there is no one leading direction, but there is a tendency towards maximum environmental friendliness and naturalness of creativity. Paper is actively used, with different textures, different density. Voluminous, layered applications are made, worthy of being exhibited to the general public. Applique is becoming an increasingly elegant, sophisticated art.

Its origins go back to the prehistoric era, when the ancestors sewed clothes for themselves from animal skins. Over time, the need arose for its embellishment, supplementing with details that today we can call decorative. With the development of society, it began to stratify: there were priests, artisans, warriors, leaders and farmers in it. And the appliqué on their clothes (including) helped them designate belonging to one category or another.

Among the nomadic peoples, horse equipment was decorated with the help of applique, among the warriors it became part of flags and coats of arms, in the attire of clergymen it was also used. The heyday of the applique can be considered the intersection of the 18th-19th centuries. The villagers at that time tried, as much as possible, to decorate their life. The reference point was the work of professionals, which folk craftsmen could look at. They did not have such materials, they did not study art, but their inspiration and desire to repeat what they saw, to adapt to their capabilities were great.

The materials used (and are still being used) are very different. From cloth and paper, as the most obvious ones, to eggshells and yarn scraps, natural materials and shavings left after sharpening pencils. The brightest, most unusual applications are sold dearly from art auctions. In a word, it is definitely impossible to consider this type of creativity unworthy of serious artistic aspirations.

If, nevertheless, we talk about learning the application, which occurs in most cases in childhood, several basic parameters are important. They act as criteria for dividing the application into types.

There are topics, motives, stories that do not need advertising, because their citation index is already high. First of all, these are festive applications dedicated to the New Year, birthday, March 8, February 23, Teacher's Day and other holidays and events.

This is what the topic division looks like.

• Animal world. From peacock and crane to swan and bee, frog and mouse, bear and cow. Children, who are considered the main authors of such applications, create them while simultaneously studying the world around them.

• Natural theme. Flowers are especially popular - daisies, tulips, roses, bells. The guys also make applications with exotic fruits - pineapple and coconut. In the "Harvest" theme, they can make a basket with tomatoes, carrots and other gifts. Depicting a forest, they do not forget to stick a few strawberries on the forest glade. Depicting the fruits of fields and gardens, do not forget about spikelets.

• Fairy-tale heroes. Quite still, kids illustrate "Turnip" and "Kolobok", older children start to depict the firebird and the princess.

• Toys. From dolls and nesting dolls to clowns and tumblers - these topics are very popular among the guys.

• Transport. Locomotive, plane, tank, car, bus, rocket. In order to at least roughly understand how it looks and works, the guys approach the issue of study creatively.

• Topics related to the subject of study in a specific period. If children, for example, get acquainted with astronomy, they may be offered to make the Big Dipper. If children are studying fish, they can make an aquarium applique. If they have learned the alphabet, they make an applique with "their" letter.

At first glance, it seems that colored appliqués are a classic. Not certainly in that way. Some masters use monochrome so skillfully that no color delights can compare with such beauty. Color is considered a very powerful tool, but it can also fail. Not everyone knows how to work with the color wheel, not everyone is ready to learn it.Therefore, sometimes the technique, accuracy, idea can impress in the work, but some kind of incompleteness or, conversely, overkill will be felt due to an illiterate color scheme.

There are flat applications, when the work can be conditionally put into a book, and it will not deteriorate at all. And there are volumetric ones, in which their multidimensionality will be, if not the main feature of the craft, then one of the defining ones. Some appliqués are made of layers with a gap between them. Often this gap is created by double-sided tape and its counterparts. Bulky crafts certainly have more depth.

From what they just do not make applications - and each person can add something of their own to this huge list.

• Cardboard and paper. The most obvious example, which is popular for its affordability and high index of capabilities. Newspapers, magazine sheets, music paper, and book pages are also used. An application on a school theme can be done, for example, with the help of diary pages or written sheets of workbooks.

• Natural material. This is not just a special category, it is a whole separate world, because they make beautiful applications of fresh flowers, lay out unique compositions from pebbles, use branches, acorns, shells, straws and other natural gifts.

• From fabric. Patchwork is also a separate creative genre that is quite utilitarian. Using it, you can make blankets and bedspreads, bags and much more.

• Leather. This is a separate art form. Not everyone will work with leather, as with a very expensive and even capricious material. Appliques such as paintings, they are often sold, decorate interiors.

• From waste. Plastic bottles and caps, as well as any other used household raw materials, can be used as a suitable material for creating an object or abstract composition.

• From food products. An example of this is pasta, which (when dry, of course) often becomes application fragments. Cereals, beans, peas, lentils, watermelon and pumpkin seeds, and other products are also actively used. They combine well with other natural materials that are not food.

• From unconventional materials. This point will contain everything that cannot be categorized into separate categories. For example, you can find appliqués from watch movements. Or works that use different pens, or, more interestingly, photographic film.

In addition to the types of materials that are impressive in their variety, the genius of the creative intellect, which also comes up with different application techniques, is surprising.

Several directions can be distinguished among non-traditional ones.

• Discontinuous. To convey the texture of the image, this technique is most convenient. The paper is torn into pieces, a picture is made from the pieces. So you can make a curly cloud, a crown of a tree, a fluffy kitten. A very useful practice for the development of fine motor skills.

• Modular. It can also be called a mosaic. Many identical shapes are glued to the base. For example, using a curly hole punch, you can stamp many multi-colored hearts, of which an applique will be made.

• Symmetrical. This is a vytynanka, a cutout - as a vivid example of such work.A sheet of paper is folded in half. On the half, an image is drawn, which on the other side should be displayed. Cut out. As a result, the sheet unfolds, and a symmetrical figure is obtained, which is glued to the background.

• Tape. The principle is similar to the previous one. Only the resulting images will not be two, but much more. The sheet needs to be folded like an accordion, and cut out the desired shape on one part of the accordion, automatically the entire sheet will consist of repeating identical shapes.

• Silhouettes. You need to be very good at scissors to do this kind of work. Silhouettes can be cut along a drawn path or an imaginary one.

• Quilling. This is the name of the art of drawing up an applique from stripes. It is sometimes also called paper rolling. Such compositions will almost always be voluminous, the stripes are long and narrow, usually twisted into spirals.

• Facing. This is paper needlework, which is associated with both applique and quilling. Thus, three-dimensional paintings, panels, mosaics, postcards and much more are created.

• Collage. It is understood as a technique that allows you to create a picture from pasted fragments that are part of other works.

Of course, these are not all techniques, but the most popular of this category.

It is important to follow the sequence of the application, the technological instructions.

Here is a conditional algorithm for creating an applique.

1. Idea. You can just keep it in your head, you can make a sketch, or you can repeat someone's master class. It should be thought out in detail, because not everyone can master the impromptu.

2. Preparation of materials. Find what you need, make sure it's enough.

3. Preparation of the base. Applique does not always start with working out the background, but most craftsmen are so comfortable. The background can be ready immediately - for example, a sheet of colored cardboard. But sometimes it needs to be tinted, change its color and texture, for example.

4. Cutting out parts. Often, templates are used to get parts of the desired shape. You can cut out all the details of the applique at once, or only large ones.

5. Finished parts need to be fixed on the base. This is in most cases done with glue. For simple paper applications, PVA and glue stick are suitable, if more complex materials are used, hot glue is needed.

6. The work is detailed. Sometimes in the applique you need to paint on something, make some indentations (for example, put dots in the core of the flower with a knitting needle).

7. Finishing layer. Perhaps the work will need to be varnished.

8. Framing. Not always necessary, but may be necessary.

This is a simple algorithm that does not take into account the specifics of the techniques. After all, the same strips of paper are not enough just to cut out, they need to be twisted.

To show the principle of their creation with your own hands, you can consider one of the master classes.

Paper application - step by step instructions.

1. To begin with, you need to prepare tools and materials: a frame with deep sides (candy boxes are also suitable), a stationery knife, a pencil, colored cardboard (it would be nice with a bright print), watercolor paper, PVA glue, scissors and a ruler.

2. From a white sheet, you need to cut out a rectangle that will laconically fit into the frame.

3. By hand (or using a template), you need to draw a heart that will fit into the frame 9 times in 3 rows. This heart is about 4 by 5 cm in size. Instead of hearts, there may be another figure - for example, butterflies (as in the photo).

4. The drawn heart must be cut out, outlined with a pencil, previously placed on white paper. About 3 rows of 3 hearts will come out, but the number may differ slightly.

5. The "wings" of the hearts must be cut out with a clerical knife. This work requires special care. Cuts are made along the contour of the heart, and the lower and upper parts of the figure should not be touched.

6. The cut parts of the figures must be bent up and towards the center so that they become three-dimensional.

7. The blanks should be glued to colored cardboard. It is great if it is a printed scrapbooking paper. Through the bent "wings" of the hearts, it will be perfectly visible. That is, the work becomes layered.

8. The work remains to be placed in a frame, fixing it on the back with glue or double-sided tape.

There are other options for making a similar picture. You can cut out the hearts completely with ordinary scissors, and then bend them in half. Get a flower from the bent hearts - by the method of laying them out in a circular manner. And there can be many such flowers, small and large. They all fit into the shape of a big heart.

An appliqué, in which volume is not seen as an expressive detail, can also be beautiful and impressive. And yet easy and affordable. How to create such works can be seen on the most successful examples.

We offer 10 simple and beautiful flat appliqué designs.

• From thick colored paper (designer cardboard), the child will cut out such birds according to the templates. It is done quickly and easily. Can be used as wall decor, as a postcard.

• In fact, a drawing, but made with napkins and using the cut-off applique technique. The work is not the most difficult, but it looks subtle. And it's very important to do the same good job with the color. He decides a lot here.

• Ordinary newspaper sheets, white paper, black background (cardboard) - and you get such a sweet and romantic composition. As an option - children's work for the City Day. Snowflakes are cut either with a curly hole punch (as here), or with your own hands. Sometimes you can just draw them with a special white marker.

• On the basis of impressions (stamps) and the same newspaper sheets, you can get such a stylish composition. The tree and the figures of the birds are not painted, but imprinted. But you can cut them out of black paper (for example, velvet - it will be especially interesting), and stick it on like that. The newspaper sheet can initially be tinted using a sponge that will be wetted in diluted gouache.

• An excellent, simple and concise option for an Easter applique. The form is important here - you need to very successfully, without distortions, inscribe an unpretentious floral plot into the egg. Instead of paper stalks, you can use green yarn, for example. The core of the flower can be beads, beads, sequins or colored circles obtained with a hole punch.

• Stylish, modern, in the spirit of contemporary art. Something is drawn, and something is glued. Leaves on a twig can be pre-drawn on paper and glued. Obviously, such a craft can be done by people without special education. And it looks very good, it will decorate the interior, no doubt about it.

• Composing an applique from pre-drawn elements is a pleasure for those who love to draw. You can repeat such flowers with watercolors and paper, although it takes time. Then the flowers are cut out and fixed on the base into a bouquet that will "stand" in a teapot cut out of paper for packaging.

• Very cool portrait applique. It can be seen that a variety of paper can be used to create it - up to checkered sheets. The same application can be made from printed photographs. For example, to make a person (portrait), which consists of photographic illustrations of the city. That will be a portrait of the city.

• Another example of the fact that you do not need to dwell only on standard materials - in addition to cardboard and paper of different stripes, there are geographical maps, corrugated paper, candy wrappers and much more, which will be very textured and suitable for such works. You can also make printed paper yourself: the stamps are placed even with halves of apples, even with the details of the designer dipped in paint.

• Such a leva is a great decoration for a child's room, a great addition to the main gift for a child's birthday. It also uses paper of various types: newsprint, craft paper, and packaging paper are actively used. Somewhere you can paint on something to enhance the effect. And most importantly, children themselves like to do such works, and this is quite within their power. Moreover, they will actively search in everyday life for something that can also become material for application (the remains of wallpaper, a wrapper from a chocolate bar).

Enjoy your creativity!