I’ve been spending time at The Colours of Nature to learn about the process of batik block printing. It was such a pleasure to be able to get down and do some printing, I miss having a good old play, haven’t done it for a while. It wasn’t however, just for fun; this experimentation has proved invaluable insight into how best to format designs when making batik blocks.
The print blocks are made out of a series of nails banged into a block of solid wood to create a flat dot pattern surface, different size nail heads are used for different pattern qualities. Nails are used as they retain heat, this ensures that the wax remains at the maximum temperature and does not cool too soon. By retaining the heat, the wax easily absorbs into the fabric, which is key to successful batik work.
The fabric is spread over a bed of damp sand to ensure that the wax stays in the cloth, and the block is pressed hard onto the fabric. The tricky bit is lining up a repeat block, there are no markers it’s all done by eye. Once the wax is dry the fabric is soaked in water before being submerged in the indigo vat. When the fabric is removed from the vat it is a wonderful yellow/green colour, as it reacts with the air and oxidises the fabric turns blue! This process can be repeated several times until the required depth of colour is achieved.
I’m so excited about creating my own designs, the blocks are ordered I just need to wait for them to be made! Watch this space..
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