First lessons in batik

Another new-old process that has been revived recently is “Tie-Dyeing.” Its artistic possibilities are as yet hardly realized in this country. This is partly due to the difficulty that has been experienced in dyeing with a cold process and at the same time securing a strong fast color. This difficulty has now been met. The new “Bateeko Dyes” prepared for Batik work can be used on wool and silk in cold or tepid water. The dyes will wash so that permanent effects can now be secured. If the tying is firmly done, the goods can be dyed by boiling, so that ordinary dyes, that require boiling to set them, can be also used successfully.

This Tied and Dyed work is found among many primitive conditions and peoples. In old colonial days our grandmothers made their shaded wool by this method. They wrapped their skeins of woolen thread with corn husks and wound these around tightly with cord to give the necessary pressure. The portions covered with the husks retained the original color of the wool, while those exposed became the color of the dye bath into which they were dipped. Legend says that the ancient Greeks tied the borders of their robes to produce waving lines.

Two main variations in method of Tie-Dyeing are: First, the pattern is developed by tying the threads of warp or woof or both before weaving.

Second, parts of the goods are tied before dyeing in such a way as to protect spots of the cloth from the action of the dyes.

The first method is found in ancient Peruvian work, in central India, and in parts of the Philippines. It is a complicated process and requires a high degree of skill on the part of the weaver.

The second method was used to a large extent in central India, and a few examples are also known from Peru. Sir George Watt, in his “Indian Art of Delhi,” gives such a clear description of Indian Tie-Dyeing, Knot-Dyeing, or Bandana work that it is worth quoting:

“The once famous Bandana handkerchiefs may be given as the best known example of Tie-Dyeing. The process is simple, but so laborious that it could only have been invented or practiced in a country where food was cheap and consequently human labor valued at an abnormally low figure. Tie-Dyeing may be described briefly as follows: The fabric is folded several times into half until reduced to a square or rectangular piece perhaps not more than one foot by a foot and a half in length and two or three folds in thickness. It is then dampened and pressed over a block which consists of a piece of wood with a mass of nails or pins fastened all over it in elaboration of some design. It is then taken off the block and given to a girl (the Bandhani) who purposely allows her thumb and forefinger nails to grow long with a view to their becoming an indispensable pair of pincers, by means of which minute particles of the cloth may be laid hold of readily. The raised up portions indicated by the block are seized and deftly tied by a string that may or may not have been coated with a resist paste. Great skill is needed not only to securely grasp all the layers of cloth at once, but to so seize each portion that it may crinkle in a particular manner while being securely wound around and tied. Moreover, the thread is not cut into separate pieces at each tied point. It is carried from the one to the other and is merely held in position by the turn upon itself that is given just before being carried to the next point. In consequence, when the operation of dyeing has been completed, the thread may be readily unwound and used again and again.

“The Bandhani having finished her task, the fabric is given to the dyer, who begins by immersing the folded up and compactly tied cloth in the lightest shade that it is intended to be given, say yellow. When finished, it is handed to the Bandhani, who now impresses it upon a second pattern block, and proceeds to tie a still further series of raised up points. It is again dyed the next shade, say red, and if the pattern and scheme of color desired be thus completed, the threads are unwound and the fabric opened out, when it will be found to have a red field with a pattern in white and yellow points, repeated several times all over it.

“Instead of stopping with a red, a third series of points may be tied, and the fabric dyed black, when the pattern will appear in points of white, yellow and red on a black (or black brown) field. But should a still more elaborate design be contemplated, the tying and dyeing may be repeated indefinitely. For example, the first points tied may have been very large and the cloth so folded that when they are opened out they form perfectly circular white spots, squares, or star-shaped patches upon the first ground color. These may now be dealt with separately and be tied and retied until the circles, the squares, or the stars become variegated by concentric bands of color, or a final special spot may be given in the center of each by uncovering the tips so as to allow these portions of the tied up spaces to receive the desired tint; in fact, such exposed portions may be specially colored by means of a brush. But since the tying of points can never be absolutely complete, the very center of each bears the tiniest speck of the final field color.

“Instead of using a block to raise up the cloth at the desired points, the Bandhani may simply proceed to tie up portions according to a pattern that she has practiced until it has become second nature. In this way she will work rapidly and outline a bird, a horseman or a flower, and pass over certain points in the design that require to be tied at subsequent stages, while carrying on a heated controversy with her neighbor or attending to her infant child. And she will return again and again to the further elaborations of one piece after another with the certainty of action that speaks of intuition rather than training.

“But instead of circular, square or star-shaped spots, it may be desired to produce transverse bands or zigzag lines of one color or another. This is accomplished by folding the cloth lengthwise into, say, four folds, then tying at intervals by a series of patches of the desired breadth. If then dyed and subsequently opened out, it will be found to have a ground color with zigzag transverse bands of white. Having obtained this result, the ordinary point tying may next be resorted to, with the result of producing a limitless series of effects.”

This old process, although impossible as a manufacturing method under modern industrial condition, is full of suggestions for the art worker. The simplicity of the process is part of its charm. There is no long process of tracing around edges or smoothing curves. The whole thought goes to planning the shapes, spacing, and arrangement of the spots produced by the tying.

In working with a piece of cloth, all sorts of interesting design possibilities will develop.

In starting to experiment with this work, it is a good plan to take some soft cord, dip it first in any convenient wax, such as paraffin, and cool it, then take a few old pieces of soft cotton cloth and try arranging the folding and wrapping to find by actual experience how to make different shapes. To produce a “tied” square fold a piece of cloth on what is intended to be the two diagonals of the square. Fold on the first diagonal and then on the second, and then holding one end of the cord with the thumb of the left hand begin at the tip and wrap backward to the desired depth.

To make a circle, pick up a point of cloth and crease away from the point as evenly as possible. A shot or marble tied in the center will give a colored center with a light ring or border—square or round, as desired. If the cord is waxed, a single twist at the bottom of the tied spot will hold it firmly. One layer of waxed cord wrapping smoothly done will protect the cloth below perfectly.

In working with semi-transparent material the design can be first blocked in with charcoal on paper. Distances from edges, centers, etc., should be carefully measured with a ruler, tape line, or yard stick. The size of the spots to be protected should be planned carefully, then, laying the cloth over the plan, with either blue tailor’s chalk or charcoal, mark the centers of squares and circles and lines for oblongs. With heavier material, after the piece has been planned on paper, draw the foundation lines that give the spacing directly on the cloth as before explained.

The necessary equipment includes jars for the dye, enamel pans, preferably, as acid corrodes metal pans in time, plenty of string, a cake of paraffin wax, and marbles, shot, etc.

The list of articles for which Tie-Dyeing is a suitable decoration is long: Pillow tops, scarfs, bags, table and bureau covers, curtains, bed-spreads, blouses, lamp shades, middy ties, collars, aprons, etc.

A charming lamp shade can be made of a square piece of cotton crepe dyed gold first without tying, then tied to give a suitable group of orange brown spots and borders.