Batiks, and how to make them

by Pieter Mijer

The occasional use of “crackle” will help the artist a great deal,—for instance, it may happen that one of the light colours in the design may turn out to make too glaring a spot to be entirely harmonious and in such an event one may get pleasing results by deliberately crackling that particular spot and thus tone down its brightness.

PAINTING IN COLOURS

Instead of dipping their batik several times, some people paint in some of the colours. As a rule this local application of dyes is resorted to when multi-coloured batiks are desired and when red and blue are used in the same colour scheme. The results of this method of dyeing are not, however, very satisfactory, as it always shows in the finished piece. No matter how small the painted-in spots may be, they always seem to stand out and do not harmonize with the general scheme, the way colours do that have been dyed over each other, as, having been dyed over each other the darker tones are a composite of the colours dyed previously and the whole effect naturally shows a pleasing relationship of colour.

The Javanese occasionally put in their extra colour by this means, but with no greater success than the American artists and the finest craftsmen there are not using the painting process at all.

Another drawback is, that not only are the colours inharmonious, but the moment you try to paint in any large surface, that is, any area bigger than a square inch, the colour is always uneven; this is because the moment the silk is touched with the brush, that individual spot gets the full strength of the dye, which fades out toward the edges and no matter how much patching up is done, it is impossible to get a perfectly even surface such as can be obtained by dipping. Of course, the dye when painted in, is cool and the colours will not be as fast as when the fibres of the material slowly absorb the hot dye. Among other disadvantages, is the fact that the spot which is to be coloured, always has to be first outlined in wax to prevent the dye from spreading; this gives a light outline round a dark surface, which, while not spoiling some designs has an unpleasing effect more often than not.

“SPRING” BY C. BERTRAM HARTMAN AND PIETER MIJER

COLOUR GROUPS

Batiks in one or two colours are of course much simpler than those in which a variety of tones are required, but with a little thought and practice many colours can be used together on the same piece. The simplest colour scheme consists of an arrangement of yellow, green and blue. Always start dyeing the lightest colour first and work through the colour plan to the darkest shade; for instance, in a piece where yellow, red and black are desired, the dye-baths are arranged in the same order.

In the use of dyes it is necessary to arrange the colour ranges into two groups, which we will call the “group of the reds” and the “group of the blues.” The “group of the reds,” starts with yellow and its variations and hues, then red and variations of red, and lastly purple. The main colours of the “blue group” are yellow, green, blue, and purple. This division of colour will be readily understood by those who have some knowledge of the subject. It will be clear to them that red can be dyed over yellow, and purple can be dyed over red in its turn, whilst it would be impossible to produce a good blue or green on top of a previously dyed red. This same idea holds good in the group of the blues.