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Fun facts about batik in other country! yay! And pictures too! double Yay!

African Batik

There are examples of batik textiles in many parts of Africa but the most developed skills are to be found in Nigeria where the Yoruba people make adire cloths. Two methods of resist are used: adire eleso which involves tied and stitched designs and adire eleko where starch paste is used. The paste is most often made from cassava (a root plant) flour, rice, alum or copper sulphate boiled together to produce a smooth thick paste. The Yoruba of West Africa used cassava paste as a resist while the people of Senegal use rice paste. The paste is applied in two different ways.

By using freehand drawing of traditional designs using a feather, thin stick, piece of fine bone or a metal or wooden comb-like tool. This is done by women.

Forced through a thin metal stencil with a flexible metal or wooden tool. This enables accurate repeat patterns to be achieved. This is done by men.

Thailand Batik

The word batik conjures thoughts of exotic, Oriental textiles, rich in colour and design. Bright batik cloth can be seen on almost any beach in the form of sarongs and has been utilized to make shirts, ties, scarves and even shoes in the fashion industry. Interior decoration may use batik tablecloths, curtains, placemats and even picture frames. This versatile and durable textile is being applied to more areas everyday and not only that, but the process of making batik is becoming a popular past time with visitors to Phuket.

The origins of this intricate art form are largely unknown. Evidence of batik work has been found all over the Middle East, India and Central Asia however, for a long time it has been most prevalent in Java, Indonesia. When batik was introduced in Java, it was mostly practiced as a hobby by ‘fine ladies’ and so the ability to make the exquisite cloth was considered a sign of refinement. Initially batik cloth was used to make costumes for aristocrats and royalty and sometimes, particular designs would signify a person’s family, social status or origin.

Indonesian Batik

 The techniques, symbolism and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments known as Indonesian Batik permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end: infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik. Clothes with everyday designs are worn regularly in business and academic settings, while special varieties are incorporated into celebrations of marriage and pregnancy and into puppet theatre and other art forms. The garments even play the central role in certain rituals, such as the ceremonial casting of royal batik into a volcano. Batik is dyed by proud craftspeople who draw designs on fabric using dots and lines of hot wax, which resists vegetable and other dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water and repeating if multiple colours are desired. The wide diversity of patterns reflects a variety of influences, ranging from Arabic calligraphy, European bouquets and Chinese phoenixes to Japanese cherry blossoms and Indian or Persian peacocks. Often handed down within families for generations, the craft of batik is intertwined with the cultural identity of the Indonesian people and, through the symbolic meanings of its colours and designs, expresses their creativity and spirituality.