Batik is an ancient art that has been practiced over the years in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, India, China and other countries. It's both an art and craft, an ancient tradition which is well known in African countries. It's exact origin is not known but could be traced to the Island of Java, Indonesia.
To make a batik, selected areas of the cloth are blocked out by drawing hot wax over them and the cloth is then dyed. The part covered in wax resist the dye and retain the original colour. This process of waxing and dyeing can be repeated to create more colourful designs which could be worn or sold after the final dyeing and the wax is removed from the fabric.
I want to explain a 2-colour batik design I made some days ago after my 5 weeks batik training at "NIKE ART GALLERY" at Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. I call this design "podrose" because I got the inspiration from a flower and a groundnut pod perspective of art. Here are my paperwork for the design.
Firstly, I got a 5-yard white fabric (100% cotton) and washed it in cold water to remove starch from the fabric. Thereafter, I sun-dry the fabric. I made use if wax, stove, drawing foam, gloves, kerosene to fuel the stove, table and chair in the process of producing my "podrose" batik design. Then, I cut the wax in a pot and light the stove and I put the pot on the stove to melt the wax. I proceeded by spreading the fabric on the table to start drawing out the designs. I drew separate vertical lines of 10inches away from each other. On the first column, I drew a zig-zag pattern from the top to the bottom. On the second column, I drew separate multiple horizontal lines of 5 inches away from each other. For the first colour design, I drew multiple zig-zag lines with a rose design blocked on its "first wave" on each of the bent triangle formed by the zig-zag pattern. On the second column, I drew a fish net-like pattern followed by a divided pod-like pattern blocked on both sides. These patterns were repeated across the second column. For the third column, I repeated the pattern on the first column and for the 4th column, I repeated the pattern on the second column and I continued the pattern repeatedly across the fabric. After the first colour design, I folded the fabric using rectangular folding. Then I proceeded by dipping the sides and the middle of the fabric into a light blue-orange dye solution.
NOTE: I dipped and removed the fabric immediately to air-dry and not soak the fabric into the dye solution.
After dyeing and air-drying the first colour design, here's a picture of the fabric:
After air-drying the fabric, I spread the fabric on the table for the second colour design where I extended the waves of the rose design round the bent triangle and then made curves towards the left and right of the "divided pod-like pattern" on the fabric. I continued by soaking the fabric in a hot indigo dye-solution.
NOTE: For preparation of dye solution, you need hot water, dye, sulphite and soda measured in the right quantity for effective dyeing process.
Then the fabric was sun-dried, rinsed and washed properly in cold water to remove excess dye. The dyed-fabric was sun-dried and ironed properly.
Here's a picture of the fabric after the production process
Thanks for reading.......
