All about Batik
Batik (meaning ‘dot’) is a wax-resist dyeing technique used on textiles. The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelt battik.Batik is found in several countries of West Africa, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Mali, and in Asia, such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Iran, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.
It has been both an art and a craft for centuries. In Java, Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik cloth in the world is still made there where it is considered a national art form.
Contemporary batik, while owing much to the past, is markedly different from the more traditional and formal styles. For example, the artist may use etching, discharge dyeing, stencils, different tools for waxing and dyeing, wax recipes with different resist values and work with silk, cotton, wool, leather, paper or even wood and ceramics.
To create it melted wax (usually a mixture of beeswax and paraffin wax) is applied to cloth before being dipped in dye. The beeswax will hold to the fabric and the paraffin wax will allow cracking, which is a characteristic of batik. Wherever the wax has seeped through the fabric, the dye will not penetrate.
Thin wax lines are made with a canting needle, a wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a tiny spout, out of which the wax seeps. Other methods of applying the wax onto the fabric include pouring the liquid wax, painting the wax on with a brush, and applying the hot wax to precarved wooden or metal wire block and stamping the fabric.
Sometimes several colours are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps. After the last dyeing, the fabric is hung up to dry. Then it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colors and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character.
The beauty of batik is the amount of effort that goes into it as well as the story of the design. I’m besotted by batik so source it from authentic producers in Java. Their traditional craft ought to be admired more!!!!