Batik and other pattern dyeing

by Walter Davis Baker; Ida Strawn Baker

3. The colors were mixed and used like water colors.

4. The small bell-shaped flowers were painted red, the pods yellow, the leaves green. These painted surfaces were then stopped out with wax.

5. Two gallons of warm water were softened and [!-- original location of illustration --] made into a soap suds. This solution was divided into two equal parts. The first part was used for wetting the fabric, and “soaping off” after dyeing. The second part was made into a brown dye-bath for the dipping.

THE COMPLETED PATTERN

II. Painting directly on the fabric without waxed outlines, and building up the ground color in one or more baths. The piece illustrated on page [59] was done as follows:

1. The design was drawn free hand upon the fabric, stretched in a frame.

2. The colors were painted directly. The tree was green, the bell-like flowers orange, the dogs golden yellow. The brush strokes were very small.

3. The colored shapes were carefully covered with wax.