Incorporating the “Art of Batik” into the deocrating of your home can add some color and an interesting piece of art and history.
We discovered this delightful collection of Batik Art in a recent trip to Barbados where we visited Henderson in his studio. Batik Art is a very involved and intriguing art which incorporates a multiple step process of dying fabric. The Batik Art of Henderson Reese is well known for the fresh, vibrant colors and has delighted collectors in Europe, America and the Caribbean.
Batik is an ancient art form originating in Southeast Asia more than a thousand years ago. Since its beginning, batik has traversed the course of history leaving a path of colorful designs in fashion and in decorative art. The term “Batik” is an Indonesian word. It has come to be used as a generic term which refers to the process of dyeing fabric covering areas of cloth with a dye-resistant substance to prevent them from absorbing color and thus creating designs.
Approximately 500 years ago, Javanese batik was done by women in the royal family and many designs created in the palace are still produced today. Each traditional Indonesian pattern has a name and a meaning as does each shape within the pattern. For example, one of the wedding patterns reserved for wear by the bride and groom contains square forms that signify rice fields. When the squares contain the ukel shape it means the fields are full of rice. Another wedding pattern contains a house shape within a butterfly pattern, signifying that the family will live happily.
The resist process of Batik requires patience and time.. Each piece begins with a sketched scene on fabric. The artist will then apply hot wax to the fabric to protect these areas during the immersion of the cloth into a dye vat. After the cloth dries, the artist will repeat the procedure with each color. At each step some parts of the design are scraped off to allow the next color to penetrate those areas. Then it is waxed again to preserve some of the blue parts and dyed another color. This process may be repeated many times. the last step is to remove all the wax ina procedure using boiling water and caustic soda. Cracking or crackling is a process which produces dark lines all of ther design of he fabric. Using paraffin or beeswax and then crumpling the fabric creates hairline cracks in the was, allowing dye to enter the fabric and produce the texture that is part of the unique charm of batik.
As noted earlier, Batik is now a generic term. Because of the poplularity of the batik design, many batik patterns are used in a variety of fabrics. Many fabrics are called batik although they were not made in the resist method described above. Although most batik fabric today is decorated and tailored by machine, true batik lovers do not consider it true batik unless it was made through the application of the original methods of resist dyeing. Because of the true art form of authentic Batik, there still remains a consideralbe market for high qulity, hand-made batik.
To purchase your unique or custom designed batik art visit www.islandhomefurniture.com or email Island Home Furniture &Decor at contactus@islandhomefurniture.com to arrange a custom design.
