BATIK

Batik is an ancient technique that has been in use in Asia to create beautiful designs on fabric. The way it works is straight forward – melted wax is applied to fabric using a brush or special tool called a tjanting. What is Batik? Decoration Techniques The wax will be absorbed into the paper and you may need to repeat this process a few times to get rid of all the wax. When dye is applied to the fabric the wax stops the dye from coming in contact with the fabric underneath. As well as a tjanting tool, wax can be applied using various techniques e.g. a brush or a stencil. Once the wax has cooled, colour can be applied by brush or by placing in a dye bath. The wax needs to be removed to reveal the pattern, to do this, place newspaper and clean sheets of paper both on top and underneath of the fabric, and apply gentle pressure with a hot iron.

It’s more manageable to place your cloth into an embroidery circle just to be able to keep the fabric tight and to move the fabric around freely. Especially when using hot wax! Tjanting tool A Tjanting tool. Wax comes out of here in a steady flow so you have to be quick when drawing your design. Melting pot for the wax Have a go at doing abstract patterns first as these work best if your not sure what to do. With practice you could come up with some amazing designs. How to :

Work quickly and carefully as the wax will cool very soon after taking it out of the melting pot. If you do have an accident in that you have a blob of wax on you design don’t worry as it will add to the finished affect. It’s quite hard to see the wax so you have to concentrate. Draw with the wax just like if it’s a pen!! Remember the wax is hot You must work carefully How to :

Draw your design as far as you can to the sides of the circle If you do spill wax onto your design unfortunately you will not be able to get rid of it. Take your time. Warning How to :

The wax creates a barrier for the paint colour to remain in. On the right is what the design would look like. Other batik designs. How to :

Add your colour using batik dyes or fabric paints. You can mix your colours on the fabric so they blend into one another or make them watery by adding water to the batik dyes. I’ve decided to start with pink. You ‘re now painting in the spaces as the paint will not settle on the wax. If it’s your first go don’t be afraid to experiment with colours and design. How to :

Enjoy adding colour to your design.

What do you think?. How to : Place the embroidery frame somewhere to dry. When the paint is dry remove the fabric from the frame.

What do you think?. How to : Place the embroidery frame somewhere to dry. When the paint is dry remove the fabric from the frame.

Place a piece of clean paper underneath your batik fabric. Place another piece of paper on top of your batik fabric in preparation to absorb the wax. At the moment your fabric is quite stiff due to the wax. How to :

Iron carefully over the paper. As you go along the paper should absorb the wax and the paper will begin to look greasy. Don’t stop until you have finished ironing the whole piece of fabric. You may need to change your paper half way through The wax should be coming through the paper How to : Remember the IRON is hot You must work carefully

To finish you should have a piece of wax free fabric with just your design on it. How to :

Decorative stitches added using a free hand embroidery foot on the sewing machine. How to : The batik designs can developed further with machine stitching. What do you think of some of these designs?

Application of Decoration Techniques Use of batik on cushions

If you are interested in taking this technique further you may want to do some research about its origins, craft or galleries of artists who have developed it. Here are some web sites to have a look at if you’ve got a spare minute. Or you can do a google search to find your own interesting sites.