An amateur video of a Singhalese Lady from Sri Lanka who is producing her own colorful fabrics to later on make shirts and sarongs sold mainly to foreign visitors looking for a handmade and more personal gift to carry home. Shirts are custom made for each client if requested with designs unique to the clients orders.
Batik: Melted wax is applied to cloth before being dipped in dye. It is common for people to use a mixture of beeswax and paraffin wax. The beeswax will hold to the fabric and the paraffin wax will allow cracking, which is a characteristic of batik. Wherever the wax has seeped through the fabric, the dye will not penetrate. Sometimes several colours are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps.
Thin wax lines are made with a canting, a wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a tiny spout, out of which the wax seeps. After the last dyeing, the fabric is hung up to dry. Then it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colors and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character.Maintaining batik
For all BATIK Textiles the following rules apply:
Hand wash, or best just soak the cloth
Use very little detergent, best to use lerak
Hang the batik directly, do not squeeze the cloth
Do not hang in direct sunlight
The iron should not directly touch the cloth, best to use a steam iron
Silk batik is best dry-cleaned
Do not spray perfume onto the cloth directly (Wikipedia)
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