Batik is an ancient art that uses wax and dyes to create visual magic on fabrics. It is historically the most expressive and subtle of all the resist methods. The ever-widening range of techniques available offers the artist the opportunity to explore a unique process in a flexible and very exciting way.
Batik Sarees are one of the textured art forms from India famous for attractive contrast color schemes. It is famous for the artistic freedom it offers due to its inherent style and technique. The charm of Batik lies in each piece being individualistic and fresh creation.
Origin
The word batik is Javanese in origin. It comes from the Javanese ambatik that consists of amba means “wide” or “large”, and tik or nitik means “dot” or “make a dot”.
The art of decorating cloth using wax and dye, has been practised for centuries in many parts of the world including China, Japan, India, South America and Europe.
In Java, an island in Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik cloth in the world is still made there.
It is an art wherein parts of cloth are covered with wax to make it dye resistant, and the other areas are dyed, to create colored and uncolored areas on the same piece. Indigo was one of the most popular and frequently used colors for the dyeing process. In the contrast between these dyed and undyed areas lies the inherent beauty of Batik Art.
It is usually made on a fabric surface (such as cotton, silk, linen, rayon, or hemp). But these techniques can also be used on paper, wood, leather, and even a ceramic surface.
This form of art has been practiced in India for over 2100 years now. It is done on a large scale in the Indore and eastern states of India.
Techniques
Batik is mainly divided into three techniques.
Written batik ( batik tulis )
It is made by writing wax liquid on the surface of the cloth with a tool called canting. Canting is made of copper with a handle made of bamboo or wood. The making of hand-written batik is still traditional and manual. It takes approximately 1–3 months depending on the complexity and details. In addition, the fundamental difference between written batik compared to other batik is the number of points or curved lines that are not the same because they are made manually by hand. This characteristic makes it not only more valuable and unique compared to other batiks but also expensive.
Stamped batik ( batik cap )
This process uses a stamp tool. This stamp is made of copper plates which form a batik motif on one of its surfaces. A stamp or canting cap is made by people who are experts in that field. Making batik with a cap works the same way as to block printing, but using waxes, not ink. To make one piece of cloth, the process of deepening is carried out several times depending on the number of colors desired. The batik cap is produced from the process of dyeing a tool made of copper which has been shaped in such a way on the cloth. This type is considered to have less artistic value because all the motifs are exactly the same. The price of printed batik is cheaper than written batik because it can be made in mass.
The distinctive feature of this type can be seen from the repeating pattern and/or ornament motif. Historically, this process was discovered and popularized by the brethren. As a solution to the limited capacity of written batik production. The process of making this type takes approximately 2–3 days. The advantages of the cap are easier and faster processing, and the most striking of which is the more neat and repetitive motifs. While the drawback includes in terms of art, it looks stiffer and the motifs are not too detailed. Not to mention what is certain is the possibility of having the same design at many people.
Painted batik (batik lukis)
It is a technique of making batik by painting (with or without a pattern) on a white cloth using a medium or a combined medium like canting, brush, banana stalk, broomsticks, cotton, toothpicks, patchwork, or other media depending on the expression of a painter. It is the result of the development of this art. The essence of batik painting is that process of making does not use traditional motifs that are commonly found. The resulting motifs are the creation of the maker indeed, usually producing contemporary (free) motifs or patterns with brighter, more striking colors, and more diverse color variations. The coloring in painted batik tends to be free and plays with many colors that are not often found in other. There are also gradation effects and other painting effects. The drawings made in painted batik is an ordinary painting poured on cloth using wax as the medium.
It is popular because it has a very affordable price and a very creative manufacturing process.
Process
The technique of Batik is basically a three-stage process including waxing, dyeing, and de-waxing. There are also several sub-processes like preparing the cloth, tracing the designs, stretching the cloth on the frame, waxing the area of the cloth that does not need dyeing, preparing the dye, dipping the cloth in dye, boiling the cloth to remove wax and washing the cloth in soap.
Batik is a resist process in which the fabric is painted with molten wax and then dyed in cold dyes. The surface of a finely woven fabric has melted bee wax and paraffin applied with a stamp as a resist to block the parts which are not to be dyed or meant to be in light shade. After this, it is then immersed in a cold dye which colors the background.
In the final stage, the entire fabric is cleared of wax with boiling water and washed with soap. During this process, the wax coating breaks up into a kind of irregular network of thin hair-like cracks through which the dye finds its way and creates involuntarily a design of its own which gives the fabric a freshly added quality and enhances its attractiveness.
The process of batik brings unexpected elements of surprise and delight which is why so many artists find it so fascinating and even addictive. So, let’s meet next time with another crafty block print method.
References
- https://www.batikguild.org.uk/batik/what-is-batik
- Batik Sarees, Sarees of East India (indianetzone.com)
- Batik – Wikipedia
