Batik

I would like to share my experience of learning batik at Batik Blimbing, Malang.

I had my first batik class on 12th Feb 2014(Wednesday).

When I entered this house, there is two ladies are 100% focus to paint the batik. They really have a good skill. Thay have painted the flower with red and the pattern with indiogo and dark blue colour. It is a nice piece. The colour is sharp and harmony.

The owner,Miss Ima, came out to welcome me by giving me a warm smile. I followed her to enter her workshop.

The First Step: Draw a pattern on a cloth
I am not an artistic person and not good at drawing, So they let me choose a few flora pattern which are drawn by them. After that, I have to trace the choosen pattern with pencil on a white cloth. An eraser is used to rub out the uneccessary line. To make the tracing easier, the drawn paper is under the cloth on a drafting light table.

The Second Step: Apply the batik wax on the pattern
The batix wax is applied to the penciled outline of the pattern with the tjanting tool. The hardest part of this process to me is the pattern have to be drawn smoothly to prevent much amount of wax at a spot. Besides,I also have to prevent the wax dropping to batik cloth. This step have to repeat at the other side of the cloth to make sure that the wax is penetreted through the batik cloth.

This is my half done masterpiece.... hehe.....

I continued my second batik class on 24th Feb 2014(Monday)

The Third Step: Paint the pattern
I was only able to paint my batik with red and yellow due to I must complete it in 3 hours. As the red and yellow are the colour which dry fastest. When I started to paint, I was completly confuss with the colour. The red will looks like yellow and the yellow will looks like brown. However, the red and yellow will be sharp after half an hour.

The Fourth Step: Apply the wax on the coloured pattern
Wax must be completely cover the coloured patter to ensure that it will never fade and penetrated by the other colours. This procedure should be repeated at the other side of the cloth.

The Fifth Step: Dye the cloth
The cloth should be dye with dark colour, such as: back and dark blue. This will make your pattern sharper and more attractive. This procedure must be repeated for 2 times to ensure the white cloth is completely coloured.

The Sixth Step: Wash the masterpiece with clean water
Never wash batik with detergent and soap as they will the colour fade and dull. Batik should always wash with shampoo so that the colour is always outstanding.

The Seventh Step: Dry the masterpiece
Never put batik under the hot sun. It will be better to dry the batik under a shade and a windy place.

These are the stepes that I have learnt to make batik from Miss Ima. She is kind and patient.

We took a photo with our masterpiece at the end of the class. ^^