BATIK AND OTHER
PATTERN DYEING

BY
WALTER DAVIS BAKER
AND
IDA STRAWN BAKER
OF
THE WALDCRAFT STUDIOS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

1920
ATKINSON, MENTZER & COMPANY
CHICAGO

THE CONTENTS

I
History and Character of Batiks	[11]
II
The Principles of Dyeing Fabrics	[35]
III
Wax Resist Processes	[54]
IV
Batiks and Other Illuminated Textiles	[75]
V
Dyeing for Plays and Pageants	[97]
VI
Tie-Dyed Work	[109]
VII
Stick Printing, Block Printing and Stencil Dyeing	[123]

THE PREFACE

ONE of the hopeful observations during the few years of applied art education in our schools has been the readiness with which educators have taken up and kept problems in which the mediums of expression were practical and efficient, suitable for the purpose intended, and the equal readiness with which they have dropped other problems.

The burning of wood as a means of decoration did not stand this test, therefore it had to go. Oil paint is not a suitable medium to decorate textiles, therefore it too has nearly fallen from use.

The value of applied art to home and community rests upon the test, whether the pupil who works out the problems becomes by virtue thereof a more useful and cultured individual in the home and in the social and industrial life of the community.

A problem which satisfies this test becomes a basic problem. To a pupil who has once bound a book with its cover design, end papers, etc., a book is a different thing ever after. He becomes a more intelligent and cultured member of the consuming public so far as books are concerned. To the demands of many such members the book binders respond with better things. Therefore book binding is a basic problem.

Similar reasoning applies when a student weaves a fabric, plans and makes an article of dress, a toy, a silver ring, or a poster.

No one will dispute that the all-over dyeing of a fabric, and the decoration of a textile with a dyed pattern, are basic problems. The recent war brought home the vital place that dyes hold in the life of the people.

As suitable materials have become available teachers have been eager to learn and use these problems.

It is seldom that an applied problem comes to the art teacher that offers in so full a measure the essential features of a basic problem as does batik work, which involves both all-over and pattern dyeing.

The mechanical process is rather simple and offers no especial difficulty, requiring only the painstaking care that good teachers exact from pupils.

The design element involved may be simple or elaborate, fitted to the capacity of the pupil. It is a real problem in design, however, allowing great freedom yet carrying with it the discipline of a later test, viz., applied expression within the limitations of definite mediums.

As the process controls the entire surface, the pupil is directed to plan his design and ground areas both in space and color relations. The mediums used are fabrics and dyes, both inseparably involved in education as they are in life. The pupil must plan for the use intended and also for the particular type of individual or scheme of decoration.

The work carries with it all along the anticipation of results; and the beautiful finished piece is the reward of effort. What more could be desired in an applied school problem?

The endeavor and the hope in presenting this little book on “Batik and Other Pattern Dyeing” is to help those who are learning to undertake these problems with breadth of thought and efficiency of method.

THE AUTHORS.

Indianapolis, Indiana.

THE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE authors are pleased to express grateful indebtedness to a number of friends in Indianapolis.

To Miss Roda E. Selleck, Shortridge High School, for her advanced high school projects in the development and application of batik designs; also in the application of tie-dyeing and blown stenciling.

To Miss Carolyn S. Ashbrook, Shortridge High School, for her projects with an elementary high school class.

To Miss Olive Rush, who designed and executed “The Capture” for the [frontispiece].

To Miss Blanche Stillson for assistance in illustrating the wax resist processes; also for her designs, the blouse, page [80], and the pattern, page [87].

To Mr. Charles E. Rush, Librarian of the Public Library, for securing valuable publications of the Dutch Government.

To Mr. George Somnes, Director of The Little Theater, and Mrs. Eugene Fife, Little Theater, for their work revealed in [Chapter V].

For the loan of old textiles, Miss Eliza Niblack, Curator of Textiles, John Herron Art Institute, the sarong, page [76], and the chundri, page [110]; Mrs. Clifton A. Wheeler, the Javanese patterns, page [95]; Mrs. William O. Bates, the sarong design used for the [end papers]; Miss Florence Fitch, Director of Art, Public Schools, the Indian block printing, page [126].

For permission to photograph their own handicraft, Miss Mary Overbeck (Cambridge City, Ind.) the tie-dyed patterns, pages [113] and [115]; Mrs. James Thompson, the costume jewelry, page [78], and the tie-dyed scarf, page [115]; Mrs. J. R. Brant, the blouse, page [82]; Miss Mary Janet O’Reilly, the camisole, page [78].

[Go to transcription]

“THE CAPTURE,” BY OLIVE RUSH

CHAPTER I
HISTORY AND CHARACTER OF BATIKS

TEXTILE art is one of the oldest arts known to man. Personal adornment was perhaps the first attempt at expressing beauty. Costume designing and textile industries are still most vital movements in the artistic development of the people.

Asia is the great mother of beauty in textile decoration. We do not talk or write about textiles without using the words of her ancient peoples.

“Batik”—this ancient Asiatic word—is one of the oldest crafts of the Orient. In India, Java and Japan the highest technique is reached. These people have made a great art of costuming. Each caste, religion and festival requires its special garment.

From the historic days when Columbus searched vainly for a shorter way to the fabled riches of the East Indies until the way was found, these treasure islands held the possessions most coveted by the Western World.

More than a thousand years before this time, the neighboring Hindus came to these rich islands bringing with them religious teachers, road makers and skilled craftsmen. Many expeditions fastened upon the native tribes the religion and culture of the older and more civilized country.

While the Spanish, Portuguese and English adventurers were discovering new lands and claiming them for their kings, the Dutch sailors carried to and fro the produce of the world. The Netherland warehouses were filled with treasures of the Orient.

Keeping pace with its industry were the universities and the common schools. The records and drawings of Dutch scholars disclose so much detailed information upon the handicraft industries of the day that the recent revival of batik is traced to their genius.

Books issued by the Dutch Government to promote the batik craft, picture Javanese women and girls seated upon fiber mats before a vertical frame upon which the material is hung for the execution of their art. Men too are at work printing and dyeing these fabrics. Housewives in staid processionals display the occupation. Princes and fine ladies disport their gorgeous costumes. Priests climbing the steps of their temples past the long rows of their sacred gods are resplendent in batik array. Their oldest gods are clothed in sculptured batik.

Designs of great beauty and skilled execution enrich the pages of these rare volumes.

Among the Dutch people much effort has been made to promote this art. Native designs have been fostered and the modifications have been in demand for European trade.

COSTUME OF AN UPPER CLASS JAVANESE WOMAN

The American adaptation of batik has followed closely upon the European revival.

The Chinese, however, have control of the industry in Java. They employ natives at low wage to make batiks. The home occupation that took no account of time or pains is dying out. In a few years the products of this infinitely better craft will be found only in museums and in the possession of collectors. Under Chinese management batik making has become the leading occupation.

Batik is a method of drawing or painting with wax upon a fabric, after which the material is dyed and the wax removed. The result of this process is a decoration in silhouette upon the dyed background of the goods.

The wax generally used in Java is hot beeswax or a vegetable wax imported from Japan. The wax is removed by scraping and melting. The waxing is repeated as many times as there are colors in the design. The process is long and tedious and often requires months.

Formerly the colors were native vegetable dyes. The most common were indigo, mango tree bark and madder. These colors have fallen into disuse, artificial dyes having replaced them.

The wax resists the action of the dye-bath except where it cracks. Here the dye creeps in, producing the characteristic “crackle” of batik work. The Oriental craftsman never forces crackle. With him it is always an incident, the subtle accident of his handicraft.

JAVANESE WOMAN ENGAGED IN BATIK DECORATION

The nature of the process forces simple execution in waxing the shapes and outlines, and also limits the [!-- original location of illustration --] number of times the piece may be dyed. Applying the wax becomes increasingly difficult after each dipping. Spotting of color over the entire piece makes thinking in color as important as the painting in of the wax.

The Oriental process of dyeing is the reverse of the American, in that it applies the darkest colors first. This necessitates previous waxing over parts to be kept light and also the removal of the wax and an entire new waxing after each dyeing. The American method is to dye the lightest colors first and build up the deeper colors. Between dyeings the old waxing is repaired and additional areas waxed.

The “sarong,” worn by Javanese natives, is a skirt-like piece of goods about the size and proportion of a window curtain. This garment falls from the waist, or above it, to the feet. The fabric is cheap cotton manufactured in Holland or England. The color and decoration of the sarong is influenced by caste and religion. The feudal framework of Javanese society has given much significance to rank.

The women add to the sarong a “kemban.” This garment is not unlike a blouse without shoulder supports or sleeves. The kemban is wound tightly about the body under the arms. The drapery covers the upper part of the sarong.

The “slendang” completes the wearing apparel of the women. It is a scarf worn for adornment or useful for carrying the youngest child, or other burdens.

The Javanese man wears the sarong in the same manner as the women, which leads the foreigner to awkward misunderstandings. His long hair is done on the top of his head and bound around with a [!-- original location of illustration --] “sarong kapala.” This head dress is tied at the nape of the neck. The sarong kapala is square, and when fitted is starched and shaped to the head.

JAVANESE NATIVES DYEING BATIKS

Among the poorer classes these garments are plain, usually dark blue, for daily wear, but on occasions they are vivid with color decorations.

The native worker prepares his cotton goods by soaking in oil, afterwards in lye. This process is repeated until the material is softened and a pleasing yellow gray.

Hand decoration is done by women. The material is hung over an upright frame. The hand supports the goods, and the molten wax is applied to the design. They use a funnel-like cup with a bamboo handle. The wax trickles slowly through the slender tube, and with this the outline is made. This instrument is called a “tjanting.” There is no right or wrong side of this fabric, as the waxing is done on both sides. To cover large surfaces with wax, they use a brush. These women have acquired a high degree of skill through repetition of the same design on the same kind of garment.

The wooden frame over which the goods are fastened is moveable. The wax is melted over an earthen heater with an open side, into which the ends of long sticks are thrust for burning.

JAVANESE MAN DECORATING A SARONG WITH A TJAP

Although the tjanting is the more desired and versatile device for applying wax, the men wax batiks with “tjaps.” The tjap is a wooden block with designs of metal insert. The craftsman sits on a low stool in front of an inclined table over which the goods are smoothly spread. The bottom of a shallow pan is covered with wax, heated in the same manner [!-- original location of illustration --] as for the tjanting. An absorbent pad is placed in the pan, the tjap is pressed on the pad and imprinted on the fabric. The fabric is then turned and, with another tjap made like the first except with its symmetry reversed, wax imprints are made in exactly the same places. This insures good waxing on both sides of the fabric. The piece is then ready for the dye.

JAVANESE BATIK TOOLS

Sometimes a set of many tjaps is used to work out a pattern for a sarong or other garment. The making of these tjaps is the laborious and expensive work of experts. Of course we may expect to find many repetitions of such patterns, differing from one another only in the accidents of dyeing.

Frequently different methods of applying wax are used in the same decoration. Freehand work with the tjanting and brush on fine pieces serve to take away from the mechanical reproduction of tjap designs. The decoration of the [end papers] of this book, taken from a fine old sarong, affords an interesting study.

The most artistic and highly regarded effects in batiks among the Japanese workers are executed as they are in America today, i.e., the wax is applied with a brush and is as free from mechanical aids as painting.

Pieter Mijer, in “Batiks and How to Make Them,” published by Dodd Mead & Company, New York, writes of the modern development of batiks in Holland. The artists who have stimulated the present interest are Cris Lebeau, Dijesselhof and Lion Cachet. The illustrations of their work have a charm and individuality worthy of the highest respect. The author’s own piece shown in the same group does not lose by comparison.

This book is also rich in valuable instruction and other illustrations of batiks, showing high American standards of the craft.

Batik adaptation in America is without tradition, and is an outgrowth of youth and enthusiasm caught up and carried on the high tide of progress and opportunity. The real significance of its popularity reaches backward into the necessity that confronted workers in textile designing after Europe was caught in the maelstrom of war.

The textile manufacturer has quickly adapted batik designs, indeed the artist working in batiks feels a close kinship to textile industry.

Batik decoration is free from limitations that restrict mechanical printing. In designing fabrics for the ordinary methods of mechanical reproduction, where great yardage is produced, the designer consults an average taste; whereas in batiks each piece is definitely designed with a particular setting or individual in view. There is no necessity for much repetition of any design, nor indeed can exact copy ever be made.

The first enthusiasm of the worker in batiks is apt to find expression in a burst of color run riot, of “crackle craze,” with too little attention paid to design. But this soon gives way, as it should, to more conservative expression in which design is the controlling element, and the art comes to its own as a method of subtle and beautiful illumination of textiles.