Home: How to Make Batik

How to Make Batik

Batik of peacock, flowers, and vines. Here is a batik that I made way back in the early 1970s. (My inspiration was a detail from the cover of a Joni Mitchell album!)

I'm afraid it is badly faded now. The intricate detail in the peacock's tail no longer shows up very well.

But in case you are not familiar with what batik is, this photo will help give you an idea of one of the many looks of batik.

If you would like to see more batik images, just click the link. Then return to this page to read more on how to make batik!

What is batik

Batik is a "wax resist" process for making designs on fabric. Hot wax is applied to portions of the fabric and penetrates the cloth. After the wax dries, dye is applied to the fabric, by painting it on or by immersing the fabric into a vat of dye. The wax prevents the dye from spreading to those areas of the fabric that have been waxed.

Designs may involve one color or many colors depending upon the number of times the hot wax is applied and the cloth is dipped into different colored dye baths.

The basics on how to make batik

For the batik above, I started out with a piece of unbleached white muslin (or, more accurately, ecru rather than white). The areas that I wanted to keep white, I covered with wax. Then I immersed the entire piece of cloth in yellow dye. This resulted in a piece of cloth that was completely yellow, except for the portions that were covered with wax. (The portions of the fabric under the wax were still white because the wax prevented the dye from coloring those areas.)

After the yellow dye bath -- and after the fabric had completely dried -- I added more wax, this time to any areas that I wanted to remain yellow. So at this point, I had wax on the areas that were to remain white AND the areas that were to remain yellow. Then I immersed the fabric in the next color.

I continued this process of adding wax and dyeing, using darker colors with each dye bath.

Batik of Lancashire rose.
Here is a link to photos that illustrate these different stages of the batik process.

The end result is this lovely "Lancashire Rose" created by artist Buffy Robinson.

Photo
© Buffy Robinson
By permission

For information on what fabrics work best for making batik, see Batik Fabrics.

Here are some more details regarding the process of how to make batik:

Applying the batik wax

Two tjantings. Batik tools.
There are different methods of applying the wax to the fabric. The traditional tool is the tjanting (also spelled "canting" although pronounced "chanting"). Here are photos of two of mine.

To use the tjanting, fill the bowl or hole with hot wax. Tip the tjanting forward to start the wax seeping through the funnel or needle. Control the wax flow by tipping your hand forward and back.

Other ways to apply the wax onto the fabric include painting the wax on with a brush or applying the hot wax to a precarved block and stamping the fabric.

Depending upon your design, you may want to wax large areas of the fabric or perhaps just create some fine lines. The point to remember is that you must cover everything that you do not want to be colored in the upcoming dye bath.

Dyeing batik

For best results, batik dye should be cold dye. This is because hot water is likely to cause the hardened wax to melt in the dye bath.

I know from personal experience that this is true. When I used hot dye for my projects, some of the wax ended up floating around in the dye bath instead of staying on the fabric. Fortunately, enough wax stuck to the cloth that my projects turned out all right anyway. Nevertheless, I recommend using cold dye.

Removing wax from batik

After the final dye bath and when the fabric is completely dry, the wax is removed. This can be done by ironing it off between sheets of newspaper or by boiling it off in water. A small residue of wax will remain in the cloth, giving it a bit of stiffness. This is fine for wall hangings, but if you want the fabric soft, such as for clothing, then all traces of the wax must be removed.

You can do this by soaking the cloth in strong detergent. I also have read that dry cleaning will remove the wax residue, depending upon the fabric and the type of dye used. (I have never tried either of these methods myself. All my batiks have been wall hangings and I just leave the residual wax in there.)

I hope my page on how to make batik has piqued your interest enough to consider giving batik a try!

To read about how to make batik safely, see these Batik Safety Tips.