Batik

Batik is a traditional Chinese folk art which combines painting and dyeing. It is made by dipping a specially designed knife into melted wax and painting various patterns on pieces of white cloth. The wax stays on the cloth and often cracks after it hardens. The cloth is then dyed and the dyes seep into the cracks and make fine lines. When the wax is boiled away, beautiful patterns appear on the cloth. Batik cloth can be made into garments, scarves, bags, table-cloths, bedspreads, curtains, and other decorative items.

The history of batik can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD). Batik used to be popular both in Central and Southwest China. Somehow the batik technique was lost in Central China, but it has been handed down from generation to generation among the ethnic people in Guizhou, a province in Southwest China. Nobody knows how batik was invented, but a folk tale about a "batik girl" tells us something about it. The story relates that long, long ago, there was a girl living in a stone village called Anshun, now a city in Guizhou Province. She was fond of dyeing white cloth blue and purple. One day, while she was working, a bee happened to alight on her cloth. After she took away the bee, she found there was a white dot left on the cloth, which looked very pretty. Her finding led to the use of wax in dyeing.

Batik tools are made in different sizes from bronze and thin bamboo sticks. A trough between two pieces of bronze holds the hot wax. Paper patterns made by old and experienced design masters and bought by batik craftsmen. Using a nail, the pattern is traced onto a piece of fabric. The batik tool filled with hot wax follows the pattern creating a line.

Tools

Batik

Two-color Batik

Combination of Batik and Embroidery.