KERCHİEF

Kerchief which has been the subject of ballads and is known as a scarf in Turkish Handicraft, is a babushka.

Nowadays, this colorful kerchielf is used by women in rural areas to cover their heads, but in Ottoman era, men also used it. This art which was flourished in Anatolia, is one of the indispensable goods of the society and it was also among the goods of the court as it was authentic.

Clerkship is a Turkish art which is stil alive. Even the carving of the wooden moulds used in clerkship is an art independently. Only a few masters today try to keep alive the art of mould carving. Old Turkish handwritten and wooden moulds can be seen in the museums today.

Clerkship means to print designs on cloth or, to paint the drawings on the cloth with brush. Even though the exact time time when the clerkship began is not known, some foundlings indicate that it goes back to Hittite Period. 

Clerkship is an art of ornament made by various paints on the bench textiles such as mermerşahi, Buldan, Denizli, Şilebezleri.

Turkish handwrittens have different names according to their qualities.

According to its usage: tablecloth, headscarfs, puttee, scatter, handkerchief, napkin, counterpanes…

According to its place of production and the area where it is used: Tokat with cherry, Tokat with apple, Çengelköy with feather, Drama large printed kerchief, Bartın hand painted kerchief, Kastamonu, Malatya bervaniq, Kütahya hand painted kerchief…

According to its brand: Has hand-printed kerchief, Nadide hand-printed kerchief, With Bird, With Cage, Kalemişi, Yeniköy…

According to its colors: Charcoal, yollow field, purple…

According to its motif: jonquil, apple, rooster, greek woman, lamp, lock, chestnut, watch…

According to its dimension: 130 cms boiled, with round feather

Handwriting has 3 groups in terms of its technique:

In hand craved handwritings, mould is not used, the artist draws the motifs with his paint brush and paints them. This technique is no more used.

In mold craved handwritings, the motifs are printed via moulds and inside of them is printed with brush. Today it is scarcely seen and it is usually in Mardin.

Handwritings that are made with mould is generally applied and it is the latest technique. Motifs in black and white handwritings are printed on wooden moulds. However, in colorful handwritings, the motifs are printed in one color and inside of them are swaged again and so they are colored.

Apart from black-white handwritings that are called as charcoal or colorful handwritings called as elvan, there are also handwritings that are made on black surface via batik technique. Even it is rare, some have made embroidery on handwritings via silver wire.

Turkish handwriting is regional, and it has different techniques and colours. (1)

The most important place of Central Anatolian Region is Tokat as it is a significant center for its location, process and applications in terms of handwritings.
Being the capital of Ottoman Empire, Istanbul gave the most graceful samples of handwritings as it also did for other arts. In Istanbul handwritings, the motifs are drawn by hand, and all of the surface of the cloth is covered with a motif in the style of a panel.
Black Sea Region, Kastamonu is the most famous centre of single color handwriting; in Bartın, mould is used and animal motifs are used like the ones in tokat. The handwritings of this region is black and white.

In South Anatolian Region, the handwritings of Hatay are under the influence of Esatern countries.
Motifs used in handwritings are generally geometric motifs of Anatolian Seljuks, flower and plant motifs in rumi and hatayi patterns of Ottoman Empire. The important thing here is that: to paint the hundreds of motifs according to the traditional composition.

Mould of Handwriting

Diesinking is the beginning of handwriting art and one of the most important masteries.
The mould of handwriting is a wooden piece that is used for the techniques of textile printing and it is made of lime tree, pine, rose tree, pear tree and cherry tree. The best ones are made of kiln dried lime tree. They are at most 30 or 35 cms according to the place of the composition and the style of the motif.
The mould which gives the shape of the motif is “charcoal”; the mould which gives color is “elvan”, the mould of abrasion is “felted mould”, the moulds that print motifs on cheesecloth are called as “mould of destimal”.

See... Turkish art of Kerchief and Patterning Techniques

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