What is Batik?

BATIK
Decoration Techniques
What is 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.
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.
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.
How to:
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
Wax comes out of here in a steady flow so
you have to be quick when drawing your design.
Melting pot for the wax
A Tjanting tool.
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.
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.
Draw with the wax just like
if it’s a pen!!
It’s quite hard to see
the wax so you have
to concentrate.
How to:
You must work carefully
Remember the wax is hot
How to:
Draw your design as far as you can to the sides of the circle
Warning
If you do spill wax onto your design
unfortunately you will not be able to
get rid of it. Take your time.
Other batik designs.
The wax creates a barrier for the paint colour
to remain in. On the right is what the
design would look like.
How to:
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:
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.
How to:
Enjoy adding
colour to your
design.
Place the embroidery frame somewhere to dry. When
the paint is dry remove the fabric from the frame.
What
How to:
do you think? .
Place the embroidery frame somewhere to dry. When
the paint is dry remove the fabric from the frame.
What
How to:
do you think? .
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:
You must work carefully
Remember the IRON is hot
To finish you should have a piece of wax free fabric with just your
design on it.
How to:
How to:
Decorative stitches added using
a free hand embroidery foot on
the sewing machine.
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.
www.batikguild.org.uk
www.teritex.com
www.craftown.com/batik.htm
www.batiktambal.com