Batik Lamps & a Batik Wallhanging!
Jul. 20th, 2004 11:29 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sugarmommaless.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
craftgrrlHi craftgrrls,
I just got my digital camera a couple weeks ago, so now I’m making up for lost time. Here are some batik items that I’ve made & kept over the last few years. (Are we allowed to post old crafts here? Oh, what the heck, I will anyway.) I’m super proud of these. Yes, and the batik lamps you’ll see herein are the type for which I was looking for glue-advice a few days ago. I decided to use tacky glue in my most recent batch of lamps. (The recent photos will be posted next week, probably.)
I’m working on a tutorial for batik, but it won’t be for a couple weeks cause I have a long list of other things to do first. But it’ll come eventually…
But until then, here is a teen weeny description of what BATIK is:
1) First you take plain 100% cotton fabric and paint a design on it in hot beeswax. (Or you can use silk, hemp, linen or wool. No matter what, it has to be a completely natural fibre with no polyester. 1-5% spandex is ok, but I really don't reccomend it.)
2) Then you submerge the waxy fabric in cold dye.
3) The dye will only grab the fabric parts that do not have wax on them. This produces a basic design.
4) Let the fabric dye dry, then apply another layer of wax if you want a more detailed design. You have to make sure to always strart with your palest colour, and your your way up to a darker colour.
5) Dye it, dry it, and wax it again and repeat it all again until you have a very intricate design.
6) When you are satisfied with the intricacy of your design, cover the whole surface of the fabric with wax. When the wax is cool, fold it a lot so it is all crackled.
7) Submerge your crackled fabric into a very intense dark dye bath (black is traditional) and let it soak for several hours. Then take it out & let it dry.
8) Remove the wax by ironing it between layers of newspaper and paper towel. Use medium heat on your iron, and no steam. It's good to delegate a cheap/old iron as your batik-only iron. If it makes smoke, then your iron is too hot.
9) If you want to use the fabric for clothing, you should dry-clean it first and probably pre-wash it as well. (Don’t put waxy fabric in your washer or dryer! That's a mess waiting to happen!!!)
Batik is a traditional way of dying fabric in many countries, but it has been elevated to an especially high art in Indonesia.
Oh, and when I dye stuff, I always use the fibre-reactive dyes that are available at http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3796-AA.shtml
But please beware when using them because the dry dust from the Procion Dyes, dyes is very toxic and you need a respirator to mix them up. Seriously. I know people who have become very sick and can no longer so crafts.
You could experiment with craft-store dyes as well, which I'm presuming are cheaper & less toxic (but don't quote me on that)... but my main advice for those more ordinary dyes is: triple the quantity of dye. They never seem to dye dark enough in my opinion. Oh!!! And make sure that you use only COLD-WATER dyes such as "Dylon"!! Hot water dyes like "Tintex" will melt your wax and ruin your design.
Anyway, here are the crafty images:
You’ll notice that there is a goddessy/witch/feminist theme to all of these pieces. Though I still identify that way, I was definitely going through a real “phase” in my artwork when I made these pieces.
I’ve done a lot of uterus/menstruation related art over the last 8 years or so. This piece was done using traditional batik techniques where the colours are layered in the same colour family.
This piece was done using traditional batik techniques where the colours are layered in the same colour family.
Oh, and I should give credit where credit is due: Jana Ruek is the potter that made the raku lamp base that accompanies the green lampshade. This piece was done using traditional batik techniques where the colours are layered in the same colour family.
I just got my digital camera a couple weeks ago, so now I’m making up for lost time. Here are some batik items that I’ve made & kept over the last few years. (Are we allowed to post old crafts here? Oh, what the heck, I will anyway.) I’m super proud of these. Yes, and the batik lamps you’ll see herein are the type for which I was looking for glue-advice a few days ago. I decided to use tacky glue in my most recent batch of lamps. (The recent photos will be posted next week, probably.)
I’m working on a tutorial for batik, but it won’t be for a couple weeks cause I have a long list of other things to do first. But it’ll come eventually…
But until then, here is a teen weeny description of what BATIK is:
1) First you take plain 100% cotton fabric and paint a design on it in hot beeswax. (Or you can use silk, hemp, linen or wool. No matter what, it has to be a completely natural fibre with no polyester. 1-5% spandex is ok, but I really don't reccomend it.)
2) Then you submerge the waxy fabric in cold dye.
3) The dye will only grab the fabric parts that do not have wax on them. This produces a basic design.
4) Let the fabric dye dry, then apply another layer of wax if you want a more detailed design. You have to make sure to always strart with your palest colour, and your your way up to a darker colour.
5) Dye it, dry it, and wax it again and repeat it all again until you have a very intricate design.
6) When you are satisfied with the intricacy of your design, cover the whole surface of the fabric with wax. When the wax is cool, fold it a lot so it is all crackled.
7) Submerge your crackled fabric into a very intense dark dye bath (black is traditional) and let it soak for several hours. Then take it out & let it dry.
8) Remove the wax by ironing it between layers of newspaper and paper towel. Use medium heat on your iron, and no steam. It's good to delegate a cheap/old iron as your batik-only iron. If it makes smoke, then your iron is too hot.
9) If you want to use the fabric for clothing, you should dry-clean it first and probably pre-wash it as well. (Don’t put waxy fabric in your washer or dryer! That's a mess waiting to happen!!!)
Batik is a traditional way of dying fabric in many countries, but it has been elevated to an especially high art in Indonesia.
Oh, and when I dye stuff, I always use the fibre-reactive dyes that are available at http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3796-AA.shtml
But please beware when using them because the dry dust from the Procion Dyes, dyes is very toxic and you need a respirator to mix them up. Seriously. I know people who have become very sick and can no longer so crafts.
You could experiment with craft-store dyes as well, which I'm presuming are cheaper & less toxic (but don't quote me on that)... but my main advice for those more ordinary dyes is: triple the quantity of dye. They never seem to dye dark enough in my opinion. Oh!!! And make sure that you use only COLD-WATER dyes such as "Dylon"!! Hot water dyes like "Tintex" will melt your wax and ruin your design.
Anyway, here are the crafty images:
You’ll notice that there is a goddessy/witch/feminist theme to all of these pieces. Though I still identify that way, I was definitely going through a real “phase” in my artwork when I made these pieces.
I’ve done a lot of uterus/menstruation related art over the last 8 years or so. This piece was done using traditional batik techniques where the colours are layered in the same colour family.
This piece was done using traditional batik techniques where the colours are layered in the same colour family.
Oh, and I should give credit where credit is due: Jana Ruek is the potter that made the raku lamp base that accompanies the green lampshade. This piece was done using traditional batik techniques where the colours are layered in the same colour family.
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