Khohloma

The style of Russian Khohloma painting was born over 300 years ago, Khohloma is the name of a small Russian village in the former Semenovsky district on the left bank of the river Volga. In the 17th century it was a place where craftsmen from all the nearby towns and villages brought various handicraft items to. Merchants bought these attractive goods and marketed them not only in Russia but abroad as well. Thus colorful wooden articles (plates, vases , jars, dippers, spoons etc) had become associated with the name of this trade village Khohloma. The documents of the 17th century said that such crockery, especially with golden shadow was very popular among noblemen at the Zar's Palaces. The golden effect was achieved due to the tin application as one of the ingredients.

In the 19th century Khohloma items were exhibited at most of National and International shows. The International Paris exhibition of 1889 pushed forward export of Khohloma articles drastically. Especially the trade companies from Germany, UK, France and India brought quite a lot of Khohloma.

Today Khohloma is created in the same tradition as it was in the 17th century and produced throughout Semenovsky district of Nizhny Novgorod area.

For hundreds of years Khokhloma has amazed the world and is still doing so. It is truly a gem of modern folk art. Even today it develops its tradition of freehand improvisational ornamental painting.

The secrets of Golden Khohloma lies fully in the skills of its artists. With the aid of mostly four colors - red, black, green and gold - richly ornate works of art are crafted. All the manufacturing process and transformation of wood into colorful pieces of Khohloma begins at the workshops where Khohloma jars, dippers, spoons are done by caring hands from birch, lime and asp logs.The wood must dry and season for at least two years before it can be worked .

The intricate carving on boxes, vases, jars, bowls, dippers, spoons, chairs, tables etc is also done by hand. The painting of a single piece can take several weeks. Before being painted items are grounded by clay and oil mixture. The most important stage in manufacturing process is flax oiling. The quality of crockery and the brightness of colors depends mostly on flax oiling. That's why the items are being coated with flax oil 3-4- times with the drying intervals between them. After flax oiling the Khohloma items should be tinned. In the 19th century Khohloma spoons, jars, plates, vases were covered by tin or by silver. Nowadays the aluminum alloy powder is used for this purpose.

Only after all these preliminary stages Khohloma items go to the workshop for painting. Artists often work on several pieces at the same time, painting one as others dry. When the last coat has dried, several coats of lacquer are applied to each piece and the pieces are baked during3-4 hours at 120-130 centigrade after each application. Baking results in the famous golden shadow of Khohloma.

The graceful patterns are so completely fused with the wood that they never peel off, not even in boiling water. Since few paints can withstand this intense heat, cinnabar is used for red and soot for black. Khohloma goods are of the highest quality and they are not only magnificent traditional decorative souvenirs from Russia , but can be used as real crockery, because the wood gives a taste of warmth to food.