Catching Up: Batik

I returned to this Batik shop once again. I've probably written about this a couple of times before in case you've forgotten, this is a shop called Batik Hajadi. They offer a small group the chance to hand stamp a batik design onto a small piece of cotton. There are other places where you can actually hand stamp larger pieces of fabric if you wish.

I assumed they would offer the same dye colors as in the past and I was looking for a specific color. My plan was not in agreement with dye choices of the day: brown or yellow only. When they wanted to start the class no one volunteered to go first so I volunteered. I got distracted by the man helping with the wax and left my first stamp on a bit long but it turned out ok. Wax is applied using either a stamp or by hand (drawn) or a combination of both. The stamps are called caps ( pronounced chops). Caps can take 3 months to make if detailed. They are put together using strips of copper and copper wire. Here's an example of a somewhat complicated cap.

The stamp is dipped in wax and pressed onto the fabric. I chose a lionfish cap. There was a choice of seastars, lionfish or a border print. I thought the dye color choices were a bit off for the cap patterns they used. I think I would have gone with blues and greens.

Once the wax hardens, it's put into a chemical dye bath. It might change color at that point, but it might not. The fabric is dried in the sun to activate the dye.

After that it goes into an acid bath.

This is when the true color develops. More drying in the sun (more thorough this time to fix the color) and then a final dip in boiling water to remove the wax. Mine is the brown one in this photo. The lionfish are sideways. I don't have a plan yet for this piece.

When this batik shop manufactures batik is is done on large lengths of fabric in warehouses outside the city. This set up is just for "tourists."

 One of the ladies completely filled her fabric.

During our visit we were shown a video about how the fabrics are created. It's a lot of work and takes time. How much time depends on how many colors are used and how many wax steps are needed. Quite a few of my friends have had fabric made to recover cushions, etc., on their furniture. To some degree you can design your own by choice of pattern and color(s).