Batiks

Batik is a 2000 year old, ancient art form. The wax process was first brought to India by Rothindra Nath Tagore, son of the poet Rabindra Nath Tagore. You Choose Batik products are now selected with great care from Uganda, Africa.

The Batik Process

The basic process of batik is simple. It consists of permeating an area of fabric with hot wax so that the wax resists the penetration of dye.

If the cloth we begin with is white, such as bleached cotton, linen, or silk, then wherever we apply hot wax that area will remain white in the final design. After the first waxing the fabric is dipped into a dye bath whose color is the lightest tone of those to be used. When the piece has dried, we see an area of white and an area of cloth that is the color of the first dyeing. Wax is now applied to those parts in which we wish to retain the first color, and the entire fabric is immersed in the second dye bath whose color is darker in tone than the first. This process is repeated until the darkest tone required in the final design has been achieved. When the fabric, now almost wholly waxed, has dried it is placed between sheets of absorbent paper and a hot iron applied. As the sheets of paper absorb the wax they are replaced by fresh sheets until the wax is removed. At this point the final design is seen clearly for the first time. Read more
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