Batik Workshop

Yours truly (which means me by the way) had the opportunity to participate in a Batik workshop at Kuching Waterfront. For those who do not know it is, batik is a handpainted cloth. It is a traditional art, considered as a symbol of cultural heritage for the Malays both in Indonesia and Malaysia. Although I must say that the batik designs for both Indonesian batik and Malaysian batik are very, very different. Even for us in Sarawak (by the way, I am a born and bred Sarawakian), the Sarawak batik is also very different as it showcases very distinct Sarawak motifs life the hornbill and such. The background color of the cloth is usually white, though not necessarily so. But for this workshop, we were given a white cloth to begin with.

Here's the process of batik making (or at least what I had gone through):

Step 1: Prepare a blank piece of cloth. Make sure it's tightly held. This is to ensure that the colors will not spread all over the place.

Step 2: Prepare hot wax. The wax will be drawn onto the cloth to create a divider on the cloth to display the different designs and motifs.

Preferably you are supposed to draw a draft of your design with pencil on the cloth. Afterwards, layer the lines with wax. In this case, I had to forgo drawing on pencil as I couldn't even see what on earth I was drawing. I decided to chant the lines with wax freehanded.

Step 3: Fill in between the lines. I was told to fill in the motifs color first (although I do not know why). At this moment it seems like my motifs consists of fern leaves and eggs (do you see the resemblance?)

Voila! This is the finished product! Although I must admit that it does look very colorful, initially I did not intend it to be that way. However, I am still very, very happy with the end result.

So, what do you think? Not too shabby for someone who's a total lefty brain. I think this would look well in my bedroom.

Cheerio!

xoxo Fashionista in Action xoxo