Originally an Indonesian craft, batik has made itself at home in Malaysia. As a Malaysian, of course, I will say that Malaysian Batik is the best in the world!
There are four ways of creating batik today: block-printing, drawn freestyle, silk-screened, or tie-dyed. While batik is produced and available pretty much anywhere in Malaysia, the best batik are those painstakingly hand-drawn by artisans in its true home in Malaysia – in the state of Kelantan.
Batik is traditionally created on cotton and silk. When hand-drawn, the design is created using a canting filled with liquid wax.
The fabric is then dyed with the first colour. The wax is then melted away by boiling the fabric in water and a second part of the design is drawn in. After this repeated process, an intricate and beautifully coloured design is produced.
While in Malaysia on one of my trips back, I took a taster class in batik painting on silk and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I can’t imagine painting metres of silk fabric but the 2 small projects that I painted was enough for me to appreciate the beauty and art of batik!
Next….batik on wood!
