HOHLOMA - russian folk art

HOHLOMA
The spoken name of wooden painted items produced in the area of ​​Khokhloma village in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and one of the famous Russian folk art crafts.


Khokhloma fishing was born in the XVII century. in a number of villages of the Trans-Volga region (see Volga). Its center was the village of Khokhloma. Over time, Khokhloma began to be called also products - mostly wooden utensils (spoons, cups, dishes, saltcellars, etc.), as well as children's furniture and small household utensils, souvenirs.

The peculiarity of the Khokhloma painting is in the characteristic golden color, which is obtained without the use of gold as a result of a long and complex pretreatment of the product. The chopped wooden utensils are primed with liquid clay, several times impregnated with a special liquid oil - drying oil, dried and rubbed with aluminum powder (previously used for this tin). By the resulting silvery background, the product is painted, then varnished and again dried at high temperature. The film of the varnish becomes darker at the same time and acquires the amber (see amber) shade, and the surface of the tree, which is covered with aluminum, radiates through it, becomes golden.


The colorful range of Khokhloma is built on a combination of gold with red and black, other colors (green, brown) complement. Traditional floral pattern of stylized "grass", "berries", "flowers", "leaves" almost entirely covers the product, sometimes there are images of birds and fish. The master never repeats the pattern, each time he places the leaves, flowers and fruits in a new way, which gives each product its own identity and turns it into a work of art.
Nowadays, Khokhloma products are produced by the Khokhloma Artist Factory, whose shops are located in a number of villages in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and the Khokhloma Painting Production Association in Semenov.