Title: batik-msg
Subject: "Batik" is an Indonesian word for wax-resist dyeing. Not period in Europe but done in Asia.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Company: Florilegium
Keywords: batik, Asia, Indonesia, wax-resist, dyeing, cloth

batik-msg - 10/26/19

"Batik" is an Indonesian word for wax-resist dyeing. Not period in Europe but done in Asia.

NOTE: See also the files: dyeing-msg, green-art, mordants-msg, Natural-Dyeng-art, textiles-msg, p-bleach-fab-msg, linen-msg, Int-Dyeing-FC-art.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 14:34:26 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: [SCA-AS] Re: Newbie with a question
To: artssciences at lists.gallowglass.org

<<< Hi, I am Temair from Stonemarche in the East and I was told that this is the place to ask about the authenticity of batik. I recently found batik at a local store and instantly fell in love with it.  I am wondering if batik is a period technique, and thus if I can use it for accessories at events (specifically baby slings).  Thank you.

Temair >>>

Depends on where and when the persona in question is from.

Batik is just one kind of resist dyeing. In resist dyeing something is applied in a pattern to the fabric which will resist the dye. The fabric is then dipped in the dye and when the cloth is dry the resist is removed. Various materials have been used - wax, gutta percha, starch mixed with algin, etc. What resist is used will depend on what is locally available and the temperature of the dye bath. Obviously wax won't work in a hot dye bath.

"Batik" is an Indonesian word for wax-resist dyeing.

The best Indonesian batik is done with a spacial tool which is like a pen with a reservoir for the hot wax, and the patterns are drawn on by hand by women. This tool is a "canting", pronounced "chanting" because in modern Bahasa Indonesia, the letter "c" is pronounced "ch" and the letter "k" has the "k" sound - in English we're quite inconsistent about what sound our letter "c" has - sometimes "k" and sometimes "s". You will also see it written as "tjanting" which is Dutch spelling - since the Dutch colonized Indonesia in the mid-17th century and didn't leave until after WWII.

Anyway, i digress...

Another way to make batik - more commercial - is to use stamps made of bent flat wire set in a wood base. These are sometimes sold in shops as decorative items. To use, the edges of the wires are dipped in hot wax and then stamped on the cloth. This work is done by men.

A method similar to this was used in 14th century Egypt where resist dyed cotton has been found. We do not know what resist was used. Most of the cloth was dyed in indigo, which is a vat dye, that is, no mordant is needed, and the dye bath is at ambient temperature.

Fewer examples have been found that were dyed with madder. Interestingly two mordants were applied. First the cloth was dipped in an alum mordant bath, then the resist was applied, then certain areas were painted with an iron or tannin mordant. The resultant cloth is white, burgundy, and dark burgundy patterns.

Modern commercially available batiks rarely have patterns anything like period resist-dyed fabrics, since the actual cloth is indigo with areas of white where the resist was, or burgundy with areas of white where the resist was and some darker burgundy patterns areas.

There are also some examples that are dyed with both madder and indigo.

Theses textiles are sometimes called "Fustat" cottons (Fustat was the capital of Egypt before Cairo), but since similar fabric fragments have been found at other locations, the term is misleading.

Scholars believe that many of the cotton fabrics found in Egypt were imported from India, since there was no significant growing of cotton in Egypt in most of SCA period. In some cases, it is believed that plain cotton was imported to Egypt and dyed or put to other uses. 

Additionally, already spun cotton cord was imported from India, such as that use to make the knitted cotton stockings dated to between the 12th and 15th centuries. And it is also possible that some unspun cotton was imported and spun in Egypt - most of the cotton threads in woven and knitted items are z-twist, but a few examples have s-spun cotton, which suggests that the finishing was done in Egypt.

I find two problems with trying to purchase ready-made batik fabric - 
One, color. It is hard these days to find cotton that has white patterns on an indigo blue ground or white patterns on a madder red ground.
Two, decorative design. It is even harder to find fabric with patterns that look "period".

An excellent source of information is:
Indian Block-Printed Cotton Fragments in the Kelsey Museum, The University of Michigan Kelsey Museum Studies, Volume 8 by Ruth Barnes, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1993
ISBN 0-472-10293-1
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 18:30:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Julie Stackable <malvoisine at yahoo.com>
Subject: [SCA-AS] History of Batik
To: artssciences at lists.gallowglass.org
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Greetings Temair - 

Batik is reckoned to be about 2000 yrs old as a technique - in parts of Asia. It doesn't appear to have been exported to the West until about the 1670's to the Dutch, so unless you have an Asian persona, it won't be period for you.

There is a batik guild in the UK with a website & some brief history if that helps.

http://www.batikguild.org.uk/history.htm

Toujours a vos ordres,
Margaret Hepburn (Outlands)

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	batik-msg	 of