Batik - resist dyeing in Madras. 
Text and photo Martin Ciszuk.

Resist dyeing is a method of patterning in which certain areas, before dyeing the fabric, are covered by a substance which prohibits the dye to penetrate and color these areas. The method is known in different variants through all times and all over the world. The Roman natural historian Plini describes in 1st century AD with wonder, how fabrics are dipped in the dye wat and comes out patterned in two colors. Fragments of resist dyed fabrics in wool and linen from Roman times are also found in Egypt. In Europe the technique was used in the 18th and 19th century by the blue printers who made indigo blue cotton and linen with reserved white designs. Some of the Indian and European cotton prints were made partly with resist dyeing - compare the originals for MYNTA and PUMPA in Durán Textiles historic textile collection. In India and South East Asia wax is often used as the resist substance to decorate cotton fabrics with advanced designs. These are often named batik- a word originally derived from Javanese where it had the meaning written or painted. In Indonesia the technique is developed to fulfillment and the beautiful cotton fabrics are popular for summer garments.

In April 2007 we visited a workshop for batik printing and dyeing in the outskirts of Chennai (Madras) on the eastern coast of India. This was a small family business where the production took place in the courtyard of the house. Here a particular form of batik with floating colors was produced – a modern development of the traditional technique made here since the 1960-ties.

The work was executed outside, under a simple sun sheltering roof made of palm leaves in humid heat of 35ºC. The wax was melted in a pot over open fire. Many designs were drawn by free hand on the fabric, which was stretched on a wooden frame on stands. Two different tools were used: one with a metal point to draw the lines of the design, another with a round head to fill out bigger areas. These pencils were made from cotton yarn and fabric but had a core of human hair, a material that could absorb and contain the melted hot wax. While giving the pointed pencil a quick turn effects of whirling dots were made.

Other designs were block printed with wax using wooden blocks where the design was created by iron pegs hammered into the block. The printing table was a flat box of sand which made a soft foundation for the printing block and absorbed superfluous wax.

The batik dyeing was performed in a sequel of different processes, varied according to the look of the desired design. If the design was to have details in white, the process was started with drawing or printing wax on the white undyed fabric. – making e.g. the stems and contours of the flowers and the whirling dots of the background. Then dye in several colors was dripped over the fabric laid out crinkled on the concrete floor of the courtyard. After this, the areas which were intended to show these mixed colors were covered with wax. Now it was possible to wash out the applied colors, which were not fixed to the fabric, in cold water. It would stay only in the areas that had been covered with wax, in the leaves and the petals of the flowers. What was intended to be the ground color of the fabric was dyed at last, either as a plain color or in several floating colors by dripping the different dyes on the fabric again. The dyes were fixated by washing the fabric in water with chemical mordents. Finally the wax was washed out of the fabric in a big washing machine and the finished fabrics were hung to dry on cords stretched over the fenced courtyard.

The craft skills of the batik dyers are impressing; with simple tools they master a complicated technique and a laborious dye process. The results are fabrics in wonderful colors and shimmering designs with the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character.

The second waxing of the fabric: The round pencil is used to fill in areas in the design. The petals of the flowers will remain in the mixed floating colors when the background later is dyed in plain color.

Printing blocks for resist printing with wax made of wood with
iron pegs for the design.

The foundation of the printing table of sand is smoothed carefully before the printing with wax starts.

A collection of batik dyed fabric in striking colors and fancy patterns.