“Instead of using a block to raise up the cloth at the desired points, the Bandhani may simply proceed to tie up portions according to a pattern that she has practiced until it has become second nature. In this way she will work rapidly and outline a bird, a horseman or a flower, and pass over certain points in the design that require to be tied at subsequent stages, while carrying on a heated controversy with her neighbor or attending to her infant child. And she will return again and again to the further elaborations of one piece after another with the certainty of action that speaks of intuition rather than training.
“But instead of circular, square or star-shaped spots, it may be desired to produce transverse bands or zigzag lines of one color or another. This is accomplished by folding the cloth lengthwise into, say, four folds, then tying at intervals by a series of patches of the desired breadth. If then dyed and subsequently opened out, it will be found to have a ground color with zigzag transverse bands of white. Having obtained this result, the ordinary point tying may next be resorted to, with the result of producing a limitless series of effects.”
A Cupboard Curtain in Batik. Designed by soldiers in U. S. General Hospital No. 2, under direction of Lieutenant Jean Paul Slusser
Filipino tied and dyed work. Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History
This old process, although impossible as a manufacturing method under modern industrial condition, is full of suggestions for the art worker. The simplicity of the process is part of its charm. There is no long process of tracing around edges or smoothing curves. The whole thought goes to planning the shapes, spacing, and arrangement of the spots produced by the tying.
In working with a piece of cloth, all sorts of interesting design possibilities will develop.