The Den Haan & Wagenmakers collection is mainly based on antique examples from the 17th and 18th centuries. [caption id="attachment_1125" align="alignleft" width="181"] A cotton printer with a pressure woodblock in his right hand and on his left hand a glass shine on stalk. Europe around 1800[/caption] These cotton fabrics were brought to the Netherlands by the merchants of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) from the Dutch settlements on the Coromandel coast of India. The original native patterns were adapted to suit European fashion, taste and purchaser under the supervision of the VOC. We know the end result as the cotton chintz which was used in particular in West European interiors and the clothing and costume of that period. Various parts of traditional Dutch costume were made in this chintz. A feature of the original cotton chintz is the low shine which was obtained by calendering using rice water and stone polishing. The characteristic sheen was applied to the cotton fabric not merely to given the appearance of the silken materials of the time, but of course also to resist dirt and moisture. In the 18th century a new printing method was developed in West Europe which meant that the original chintzes could be reproduced, putting an end to imports from India.  If you are wondering where the name chintz comes from, it is fairly readily explained by comparing it with the original Indian description for this sort of floral cotton material, "chitti”, meaning calico. Increasing demand in Europe led to many fabric printers being set up; in Amsterdam alone in 1750 there were some 80 printers and polishers, but by 1816 only a single printer, ‘Overtooms Welvaren’ remained, to be sold and shut down the following year. During the 19th century production was taken over by more modern mechanised printers. [caption id="attachment_900" align="alignright" width="300"] Original flat printing table at Betina - Goor. The Netherlands  in 1964.[/caption] Up till the end of 2024 Betina BV printing was reproducing a number of these original hand painted and coloured floral designs as the Den Haan & Wagenmakers collection. Willem Rudolf den Haan is the creative figure responsible for the adaptations and drawings from the authentic chintz fabrics with floral patterns and palempores with trees of life, intended for interior applications and historical clothing, but particularly for patchwork and quilts. Since the '90s the Den Haan & Wagenmakers collection has been printed by Hans ten Voorde, the owner of Betina BV printing in Goor, Netherlands.     [caption id="attachment_1290" align="alignnone" width="300"] Oil paint panel by A. Maury - France. Presentation of musicians and listeners dressed in aprons of typical European printed cotton fabrics. France ca. 1800.[/caption]                             Various printed fabrics "Indiennes" and "Toile de Jouy" made in Europe. Alsace and Jouy en Josas. France late 18th century. Fragment of a border pattern printed and painted in chintz techniques. India around 1680. Fragment of a border pattern printed and painted in chintz techniques. India around 1720. Fragment of a floral pattern printed and painted on cotton fabrics in chintz techniques. India about 1780.      Different garments to European fashion worn in the second half of the 17th century consisting of skirts, jackets made of cotton fabrics printed and painted in chintz techniques. India ca.1750.      "Japanese men's skirt", men's dressing gown and a ladies costume both worn in Friesland in the middle of the 18th century, consisting of a skirt and a jacket with lace sun hat. "Japanese men's skirt" and women's skirt and jacket made of cotton fabrics printed and painted in chintz techniques. India about 1750. Dutch quilt made around 1860 in the province North Holland. Previously coll. DH&W, currently belonging to the Dutch Quilters Guild.       Children of  Island Marken' with on the left costume for boys up to 6 years with skirt and apron "Druivenboezel/Grapeberry", used as inspiration for our collection tone on tone's. The girls wear a jacket and breast piece  "baaf" or "bauw" of chintz fabrics with a checkered apron. The boy on the right image wears the antique amber necklace with a silver coin, used on Pentecost which is the most important day for traditional costumes on the Island of Marken.   [caption id="attachment_5864" align="alignnone" width="366"] Image of dozens of young girls painting flowers on the cotton cloth/fabrics with a brush. (pinceau) The original title of the performance in French is "Les pinceauteuses". The workshop is from Manufacture Johann Rudolf Wetter in Saint Marcel (Orange), dated 1785. The painting is part of the collection of Musée d' Orange -Provence. France[/caption]  

When we compose a new design we need to be aware that the final result is made up of 12 different colours maximum.                                That is because the printing machine has room for a maximum of 12 cylinders.  After a completely colored drawing is made with the correct repeating size, it is then separated into the number of colors used to build up into the finished design. The repeating size depends on the diameter of the printing cylinder, in our case 64 cm or 92 cm, or a size that it can be divided into, like 32 cm or 46 cm.  If a design involves e.g. ten or 12 colors, ten different part drawings are also created, which are then used by the engraver to prepare ten (in this case) different cylinders or stencils. Although most designs use no more than six basic colours, additional shades can create a better effect. For example, for red we can obtain a better effect if two or three additional shades are used.  As soon as the engraver finishes his work and the printing cylinders have been delivered to the fabric print shop, test printing begins using previously selected colors. In the factory’s ‘colour kitchen’, where the paint is stored in containers, the ‘colour master’ first hand-mixes a sample of each colour. When these individual colors are right, the cotton is pasted ‘smooth’ onto the conveyor belt, starting by printing proof copies. Only when the colors used provide the desired overall colour image do we start printing ‘runs’ in quantities from perhaps one or two hundred meters of fabric, depending on demand and orders. As soon as the printers have placed each printing cylinder in the correct order into the printing machine, the cylinders are filled under pressure with the appropriate colour paint using a connection mechanism in the printing machine. Beneath the cylinders is the cotton fabric pasted onto the conveyor belt which moves independently, but at the same pace as the printing cylinders, to the end of the ‘printing line’. See images. The print screens are made of very fine gauze. In the places where the paint is not to pass through the gauze is sealed with a special coating. At the end of the ‘print line’, when all colours have been printed, the printed fabric is taken off the conveyor and then dried in a ‘drying channel’ so that finishing processes like fixing can be performed. A ‘binder’ in the pain ensures that the colour is washable and abrasion-resistant. The ‘binder’ has to harden for around five minutes in the drying channel at 150 degrees Celsius. The selvedge of the printed material contains most of the ‘pico points’. Here you can see how many colors were used in the design and whether the different print screens good were aligned correctly with each other. Betina printing works exclusively with pigments which are resistant to long-term exposure to sunlight and artificial light and can also be washed without fading. It is these colorings which are added to the transparent base paste used to ensure that the material is suitable for printing and washing. These pigments are not just important for interior decoration fabrics like curtains, but also in textile working methods like patchwork. In Asia in particular printing usually uses ‘reactive dyes’. Unlike our own Dutch production with pigment printing on 150 cm width fabrics, almost all other typical patchwork materials are printed in Asia with reactive dyes on 110 cm wide material. These reactive dyes have the benefit of being soft to the touch and offering more intense colors; a disadvantage is that they have bad light resistance, so they are not suitable as curtain material, etc. and without suitable treatment by the manufacturer they continue to fade or bleed when washed. To prevent the printed fabric from wrinkling during the printing process or while drying, the material is pinned down on its length and dried at the set width. The pinholes are mainly visible at the edge of the material. Lastly the printed and dried material is ‘calandered’. This involves being passed through two heated rollers, which gives the fabric a slight sheen.  The heat and the pressure effectively press the fabric flat, giving it a glossy surface.  The level of sheen can be adjusted by setting the pressure, temperature and speed at which the material runs through the rollers. This method is based on a mechanical process, so there are no liquids or chemicals involved. There just remains an inspection where pieces of material with errors and irregularities are removed and the approved sections are wound onto standard reels.

Ever since the early '80s  in our two Edam shops and also some years later in Amsterdam, our specialisation in Dutch costume jewellery and historical Dutch costumes led to requests and ideas to start developing our own collection of chintz fabrics, based on antique documents from private- as well as Dutch museum collections.                At first it was the ladies of Spakenburg Bunschoten, Marken and the various historical associations who bought chintz fabrics for their traditional costumes. Later, at the beginning of the '90s the first patchers made tentative approaches. Using various historical 18th and 19th century traditional costumes and authentic documents from museums primarily in the Netherlands but also in France, over the years we have tried to provide an interesting and affordable alternative in the form of the Den Haan & Wagenmakers collection.               Floral vase with chintz flowers, design Willem Rudolf den Haan. From left to right, 1. pencil drawing. 2. hand painted drawing. 3. By the engraver digitally adapted original drawing, nrs. 1 and 2. . The engraver has reduced and devided the design into 12 colours / screens total. This is the maximum number of cylinders that fit into our rotation printing machine. Design Willem Rudolf den Haan.          Corresponding border motif with the matching chintz flowers from the vase design. Right the pencil drawing, in the middle the digital adaptation by the engraver ready for the screens and  the hand painted pencil drawing.  Left above painted sketch fantasy for all over pattern, 1 repeat. Design Willem Rudolf den Haan.               Fantasy for border fabric inspired by an 18th century cotton chintz printed and painted in India. Left pencil drawing, in the middle the pencil drawing hand painted and right the original  chintz fragment. Design Willem Rudolf den Haan.       Speaking of reproduction materials, it is not the case that an original document can be transferred one-on-one to a printing template using photo techniques. The original antique pattern is smaller in rapport or it repeats itself in a smaller, different format than what is common with modern printing techniques today. " Pulling apart or stretching" a pattern or design is almost never an option and the only correct solution is therefore to redraw te design an fill in the open areas created by the rapport enlargement with your own imagination. The edit is indeed based on the original design of motif, but because of the new additions and other adjustments alone, one can no longer speak of a real reproduction. In my opinion, this can also affect the copyright per editing. Rudolf den Haan Designer Dutchfabric.nl collecion