Hot batik: history, choice of materials and technique of execution

In order to turn an old thing into a new one, or to create a spectacular gift with your own hands, it is enough to be able to use the hot batik technique. Working with wax allows you to easily cover plain surfaces with unusual patterns and patterns.

Hot batik is a fabric painting technique that has been actively used for a long time. Its essence lies in the fact that the pattern is formed by molten wax or similar material. After dyeing the fabric and removing the wax, a pattern, white or multi-colored, remains on the surface.

Hot painting is used to decorate the contour, as well as to protect some fragments from spreading paint.

People have been painting the fabric for many years, but the first, according to archaeologists, the Indonesians from the island of Java began to do it back in the 13th century. The locals mastered the technique so well that it became known all over the world. Over the centuries, each genus has acquired its own peculiarities of painting. The term itself has been used since the 18th century, and the country of its origin is called the Netherlands. Hot batik appeared long before cold batik, since the latter appeared only at the beginning of the 20th century.

Fabric processing is impossible without special tools. First of all, we are talking about a metal mug with a double bottom, allowing you to place an electric light bulb inside. In this container, wax or other reserve composition will be heated.

To apply it directly to the fabric, you will need different devices: knives, funnels, gurneys fixed on wooden handles.

Reserving compounds are prepared according to several recipes.

For example, it can be a mixture of 660 grams of paraffin and 340 grams of technical petroleum jelly. A combination of 500 grams of paraffin wax, 250 grams of petroleum jelly and the same amount of beeswax is also suitable. Finally, 790 grams of paraffin mixed with 210 grams of petrolatum are considered equally effective.

It is better to take special paints intended for creating batik. When choosing a material, it is important to keep track of whether it is fixed with steam with an iron or plain water. It is better to prepare brushes of different sizes. The frame is suitable for both self-made and conventional purchased ones.

Hot batik can be either single-layer or multi-layer. In the first case, as the name suggests, the wax is applied in one layer. Quite often, this technique is accompanied by the injection of a different paint into the elements that are limited by the reserve. The filling is carried out even before the entire plane has been covered with the background paint, and the resulting parts of the reserve are also protected by the reserve composition.

Two or more layers already implies a multi-layer technique. The work is the same except for the final part. In other words, at each stage, a simple batik is performed, after which an overlap is created. It is recommended to repeat the procedures no more than four times.

Reverse batik is also a variation of this technique. In principle, it is created in the same way as a traditional one, but the colors are used in the reverse order - from dark to light. The work begins with those places that should be painted in a cold shade, and then the whitening procedure is carried out.

Separately, we can distinguish the painting from the stain, which is considered the most difficult type of hot batik. The technique is applied in the same way as for multi-layer batik, but instead of continuous consecutive overlaps, spots of different shades are used. In each spot, a part of the ornament is drawn with a reserve composition, after which it is overlapped with a different color. The procedure is repeated only 3 times, and at the final stage, a dark shade is used.

Painting on fabric, as a rule, is carried out in several stages, and a significant part of them is preparatory. The first step is the development of sketches. Numerous works are presented on the Internet, so there are usually no problems with the choice of drawings. Some simple patterns do not require a sketch, at all, for example, when it comes to "peas" or simple geometric shapes. At the same time, the color scheme is being thought out.

Since a single-layer hot batik implies a smooth "flow" of colors, it is necessary to select them so that they are harmoniously combined.

When creating a multi-layered batik, the colors are selected in such a way that so that their superposition one on top of another does not look ugly. Ideally, the selected colors are tested on a separate tissue patch before starting work.

The canvas itself undergoes a degreasing procedure before painting. It will be enough to just wash the fabric, which will also prevent possible shrinkage. There is an even more complicated method, which involves soaking the canvas in a soda solution. It is soda that is used, since it is able to wash out all chemical solutions that the manufacturer could have added at the production stage. The solution is prepared from ordinary soda and pure water, and the cloth is soaked in it for about 30 minutes.

The finished material is fixed on a stretcher and sometimes even wetted. It is better to additionally protect the table on which staining will take place, for example, by tightening it with transparent film. The frame is installed horizontally, and the need to use a goat is determined depending on its size.

A sketch is drawn on the fabric using a special removable pencil or marker. It is important to do this carefully so as not to push the surface. In the event that you plan to work in warm and light shades, in no case should you use a pen for drawing.

The essence of using a reserve agent is that it protects the natural shade of the canvas from paint ingress. Light colors are used first, and then darker ones. The wax fixes the color in the painted areas, and the subsequent wax is distributed over the free areas.

The wax can be applied with different tools depending on the pattern being formed. Dry fabric is processed with a brush, foam roller or stamp.

Professionals, on the other hand, simply pour wax onto the fabric from a convenient container, forming lines, spots, drops and other abstract patterns. Before work, the wax is warmed up in a water bath or an electric stove, since it must then completely saturate the piece of fabric.

Warm-up qualities can be determined by the appearance of the wax. If the material is well warmed up, then the wax will pass through, and the canvas will darken a little, remaining transparent if you look at the lumen. When the wax remains white on the surface, it is not hot enough. Direct painting is carried out using a foam rubber brush, a regular brush or cotton wool. The work must be dried with high quality.

Some experts prefer to use the crackle effect at the last stage, which is created using the darkest shade. In this case, the entire canvas is covered with wax, and then deformed by creating creases. The resulting cracks are painted with a mixture of soapy water and dye. As a result, spectacular "semi-antique" cracks are formed at work.

Removing the reserve is not particularly difficult. A well-dried piece is removed from the stretcher, after which the canvas is actively kneaded. As a result, the wax breaks up and falls off the pattern in the form of crumbs. You will need paper and an iron to remove any remaining reserve agent. After lining the fabric with, for example, regular newspapers and paper towels, iron it with a hot iron. The procedure will have to be repeated for some time, replacing the paper, until all the wax comes out.

You will learn more about the hot batik technique by watching the following video.