Batik
Cathriona's Batik
What is Batik
The word comes from the Javanese for “Painted” by decorating cloth by dying it after applying hot wax to certain areas. When the wax is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas makes the pattern. Batik is used for clothing, wall hangings and cushons.
The technique of making batik?
You begin with a white or light coloured piece of fabric, perferably cotton. To create the shapes on the cotton you drip or paint hot wax onto the cloth leaving it to dry for a few minutes. Next you paint or sponge on a light coloured dye and leave it to air dry. You repeate this process with more wax and darker dyes until you are satisfied with the pattern. The last stage is to remove the wax as the piece of fabric will be very stiff you can scrape off some of the wax with a knife and remove the rest by ironing the fabric between sheets of brown paper. As simple as that.