The Process .... (1)

PREPARATION OF MATERIAL

THE first step in the batik process is to prepare the material. This is nothing more elaborate than a thorough washing, which will result in freeing the goods from any artificial loading and will shrink the piece and the size will not be an unpleasant surprise when the work is finished and one will not find that the triangle especially cut for a lamp-shade will not fit by an inch or so. If one is using "dyed in the piece goods" (that is, material already dyed one col-our when bought), it is a good plan to boil it for ten minutes, in order to remove any loose colour, and to make sure that no un-expected colour will run and mix itself with the dye in which the fabric is being dipped. The drying and ironing of the material makes it ready for the application of the design.

APPLICATION OF DESIGN

Some people when making a simple design draw directly on the material with wax, but it is usually the best plan to make the design on paper first, together with a coloured sketch to be used as a guide when the dyeing part of the process is reached. In using transparent material, the design can of course be placed underneath it and the pattern traced directly through, but this is not practical with heavier fabrics.

FOLDING MATERIAL

When waxing very thin material such as chiffon, it can be doubled or in some cases even folded in quarters, laid perfectly flat and the wax applied. This short cut was used in the batik illustrated facing page 50. It was designed and executed by Hazel Burnham Slaughter, and it is a representative piece of the beautiful work done by her on sheer materials. It is made with only two colours—the original colour of the chiffon, a very light tan, and a soft mellow red; the design is an arrangement of free ornament, floral and animal life. It is a free-hand all-over design, and repeats itself four times, having been folded as described above.

This folding process only has satisfactory results when very thin material is used as the wax will not penetrate through two or more thicknesses if the fabric has any weight at all.

The most satisfactory means of transferring the design, is to prick the outline with a pin, or wheel perforator, place the perforated paper on the fabric and rub charcoal through the holes. If one cannot obtain any charcoal—though one must be far indeed from the mad-ding crowd to be out of reach of even charcoal tablets, lead-pencil dust can be used, though it is not at all to be recommended owing to the dirty smears that it makes when rubbed.

Be very careful to have the material quite straight and place the design on it squarely, or the final effect may be very twisted and distorted. If the pricking has left a jagged edge to the holes in the paper, rub the perforations lightly with sandpaper in order that the charcoal may go through cleanly and easily.

REDRAWING OF DESIGN

When the finished work is to be in more than one colour, it is advisable to strengthen the charcoal outline with pencil or Conte Crayon No. 2, otherwise it is washed off in the first dipping. This redrawing is not necessary if one wishes to have an undyed outline edging the different colours, as in that case the outline of the whole design will be drawn in, in wax, and this will permanently indicate the pattern.