Batik

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Batik

• By Stephanie Upton-Roddy
• Katie Appleby
• Joy

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Contents
Robin Paris Batik artist
What is Batik?
Examples of Batik
How Batik is made
Robin Paris continued
Beth McCoy Batik artist
Beth McCoy continued
Step by step guide to making Batik
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What is Batik?

• Batik is both an art and a craft, which is
  becoming more popular and well known in the west
  as a wonderfully creative medium. The art of
  decorating cloth in this way, using wax and dye,
  has been practised for centuries. In Java,
  Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition,
  and some of the finest batik cloth in the world
  is still made there. The word batik originates
  from the Javanese tik and means to dot.
• Contemporary batik, while owing much to the
  past, is markedly different from the more
  traditional and formal styles. For example, the
  artist may use etching, discharge dyeing,
  stencils, different tools for waxing and dyeing,
  wax recipes with different resist values and work
  with silk, cotton, wool, leather, paper or even
  wood and ceramics.
• Batik is historically the most expressive
  and subtle of the resist methods. The ever
  widening range of techniques available offers the
  artist the opportunity to explore a unique
  process in a flexible and exciting way.

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How Batik is made

• To make a batik, selected areas of the cloth are
  blocked out by brushing or drawing hot wax over
  them, and the cloth is then dyed. The parts
  covered in wax resist the dye and remain the
  original colour. This process of waxing and
  dyeing can be repeated to create more elaborate
  and colourful designs. After the final dyeing the
  wax is removed and the cloth is ready for wearing
  or showing.

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Step by Step guide to making Batik

• Step 1
• The first wax is applied over the penciled
  outline of the pattern. Almost always the
  original cloth is white or beige.
• Step 2
• The cloth is dyed in the first dye bath. In this
  case the first dye bath is indigo blue. The area
  of the cloth where the wax was applied in Step 1
  will remain white.
• Step 3
• Second application of wax is applied. In this
  case it is a dark brown colour. A poorer quality
  of wax is used to cover larger areas of cloth.
  The darker colour helps to differentiate it from
  the first wax applied. Any parts that are covered
  with this wax application will remain the indigo
  colour.
• Step 4
• The cloth is dyed in the second dye bath. In this
  case it is a navy blue. Any areas that are not
  covered by wax will become dark blue.
• Step 5
• All the wax that has been applied thus far is
  removed. This is done by heating the wax and
  scraping it off and also by applying hot water
  and sponging off the remaining wax.
• Step 6
• Wax is applied to the area of the fabric that the
  artist wishes to remain the indigo blue colour.
• Step 7
• Wax is applied to the area of the fabric that the
  artist wishes to remain white.
• Step 8
• The fabric is submerged in the final dye bath. In
  this case it is brown. Any areas of the cloth
  that have not been covered with wax will become
  brown.
• Step 9
• The finished cloth after all of the wax has been
  removed.

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Examples of Batik
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Beth McCoy Batik Artist

• Born and raised in Washington D.C. and Maryland
  and greatly influenced by my arts-loving parents,
  I have always found it essential to include
  creativity in my life, whether it be painting,
  music, writing, or even cooking. I left home
  after high school and worked at a wide range of
  different jobs including roofing sales, nightclub
  and restaurant manager and florist. When I moved
  to Southern Colorado in 1988, I began to paint
  seriously.  Of all the things I've dabbled in
  over the years, drawing has been the constant and
  batik my passion. I was lucky enough to stumble
  upon this beautiful, intriguing medium in 1990
  when I was designing and selling hand painted
  apparel in my shop in Cuchara, Colorado.
• I began experimenting on clothing and table
  linens and was enthralled by the process and its
  results. A couple of years later, I saw some very
  realistic batik paintings in a gallery which
  moved me to take my work beyond simple decorative
  motifs. It was good to be able to fully utilize
  my drawing and painting experience and combine it
  with batik. In my little studio nestled in among
  the pinion trees, I experimented intensively with
  wax and dyes. Living in rural Colorado, I did not
  have easy access to any batik classes, but I
  probably would not have taken advantage of them
  anyway. I've always believed it is best to learn
  by trial and error so that every lesson is truly
  learned. Nor have I ever had any preconceptions
  about what can or cannot be done with the batik
  medium. I enjoy the challenge of bringing all of
  the facets of batik together, the drawing and
  planning, the waxing, the dyeing and the
  over-dyeing. Each is an art in itself. I love the
  element of surprise as the image begins to reveal
  itself with each successive dyeing.
• .

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Beth McCoy continued

• As I continue experimenting with wax and dyes, I
  find batik a lesson in patience, acceptance and
  the importance of process. The natural beauty and
  the mountains around my home were great
  inspirations and played a major role in my
  earlier work. Travels gave me new subjects to
  explore and my batiks have become a visual diary
  of my surroundings. This is becoming especially
  true since I've adopted my husband Jonathan
  Evans' nomadic lifestyle. He is also a batik
  artist and after months of long-distance
  e-mailing, initially about batik, we met and soon
  married. We are dividing our time between
  Colorado and the home that he's had for ten years
  in Northern India. It is a traditional Kumaoni
  house in a village in the foothills of the
  Himalayas. When we're not walking or collecting
  ideas for our paintings, we are happily working
  in our outdoor studio. With no telephone and few
  worries, our only interruptions are an occasional
  visitor or a band of monkeys raiding the fruit
  trees. I find India both thrilling and
  intriguing it is a real feast for the senses and
  I am charmed by the people I meet. When we're in
  the U.S. we are often doing road trips around the
  country in our van, "the batik bus", exhibiting
  and selling our work and visiting family and
  friends. Apart from doing our own batik
  paintings, Jonathan and I have joined forces
  under the name studio E Mc2 to create a line of
  original batik art pieces for interior
  decoration, including cushions, screens and
  lamps.

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Robin Paris Batik Artist

• It is no coincidence that wildlife is portrayed
  in my batiks - art and the environment are
  prominent in my life. The two are brought
  together in themes that revolve around
  ecosystems, symbiosis/predation, group living and
  life cycles. Occasionally they merge with current
  environmental or social issues but the paintings
  can almost be relied on to include the smaller
  inhabitants of our planet insects, amphibians,
  fish and reptiles, though sometimes you need to
  look carefully for them.
• I was an animal and countryside lover at an early
  age, aided undoubtedly by my childhood in
  Shropshire. Sometimes in the summer we took a
  picnic up to the Long Mynd and played there in
  the deep boggy streams. I really cannot emphasise
  how much I enjoyed those adventures - which
  certainly were never complete without a leech or
  two attaching themselves!
• It is probably a combination of the Shropshire
  Hills memories and a returning to my Cornish
  roots which brought me in 1992 to my current home
  on Bodmin Moor. But the five previous years saw
  me travelling, living and working in many parts
  of the world - the most influential and
  undoubtedly best time of my life!

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Robin Paris continued

• I trained and for four years worked as a graphic
  designer in London, until in 1987 I guessed there
  was more to life. After travelling through Canada
  I spent two and a half years in Australia and New
  Zealand. As well as designing I had a plethora of
  other jobs graphic design lecturer, cycle
  courier, national parks worker, arts festival
  worker and the inevitable fruit picker. When not
  working, I spent time cycle touring or in the
  wildernesses of the numerous national parks. It
  was at this time, in the late 1980s, that I began
  to draw and paint seriously. Both countries have
  provided me with inspiration lasting to this day,
  not just from their stunning landscapes and
  wildlife but also from their indigenous cultures
  - both traditional and contemporary Aboriginal
  and Maori.
• But it was in Malaysia in 1990 that I discovered
  my destiny batik. In the east coast village of
  Cherating that became my home for eighteen months
  were several batik workshops, and 'having a go'
  at the Malaysian national art form soon proved
  irresistible. I tried to stay away from the
  workshops. I knew I'd be addicted and it would
  have upset my travel plans. However, I did
  continue on my travels to northeast Thailand but
  six weeks later was back in Cherating, where I
  began an intense period of batik experimentation
  and production.
• I returned to Britain in 1992 for an exhibition
  in London of Malaysian landscape batiks,
  sponsored by Tourism Malaysia. At the same time I
  set up my studio in the North Cornwall village of
  Five Lanes where I still live and work. I've
  since exhibited throughout the Westcountry, and
  in the West Midlands, London, Scotland, Germany,
  Belgium and the US in solo, two person or group
  shows.
• The winter of 98-99 took me back to northeast
  Thailand and for the first time to Laos. The
  three months were intentionally a painting trip,
  but graduated into more of an ideas gathering
  time. Mostly I was travelling in the rice and
  fruit growing areas along the Mekong River, but
  also 'inland' to Ban Chiang, an archaeological
  World Heritage Site, and into the stunning Phu
  Kradung National Park in Thailand. In Laos I was
  enraptured by the amazingly beautiful Vang Vieng
  area - one of those places you never want to
  leave!

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• The backbone of my current work comes from this
  visit to Southeast Asia. Between 1998 and 2003 I
  also completed a series of batiks inspired by
  water movement in Bodmin Moor's streams and
  rivers - their colour, texture, pattern and
  wildlife. This culminated in a show 'Streams and
  Pools of Bodmin Moor', exhibited in Camelford,
  Cornwall in 2003, and the Royal Cornwall
  Hospital, Truro, Cornwall in 2004. One of the
  batiks 'Source of the Fowey' was exhibited in
  Belgium in the 2003 international batik show "Art
  in Motion".
• In 1999 my batik techniques evolved dramatically.
  Inspired by the resourcefulness of Southeast
  Asians, I began utilising scrap, found and
  homemade tools for the application of wax, which
  give possibilities for making textures and marks
  absolutely unobtainable with the traditional
  canting tool or a brush. Batik suddenly became a
  newly invented adventure! New approaches are
  still unfolding, I'm glad to find.
• I've run batik workshops since 1996 for adults
  and in schools and community contexts, usually
  incorporating wildlife, cultural or environmental
  themes. They include environmental art days,
  banner making, and retreats for fellow batik
  artists. I also give talks on batik - mine, other
  batik artists, and what makes us tick. My
  aspiration is no different from with my own work
  to enable people to enjoy, engage and be inspired
  by the natural world around us while experiencing
  the fun and buzz of batik.
• In 2004 I started a two year part-time PGCE
  (postgraduate certificate in education) in
  post-compulsory education at Truro College in
  Cornwall. Somewhat unexpectedly but not
  surprisingly much of my studying has been in
  sustainability education, especially ecological
  literacy. Who knows where this is leading...
  higher education, VSO?

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