Batik and Pottery fun - part II

Another week flies by and I've spent over 6 hours of it at the art centre. Fun, but tiring too in this heat! I fretted most of Tuesday about what I should paint, but eventually came up with an ocean theme with lots of fish, coral, shells etc. An hour before the class I decided it was way too complicated, so quickly drew up another much simplified version and decided to save the first design for when I am a little more confident with the process! Just as well, as the route to producing Wednesday's batik was rocky enough! That tjanting is a devil to control - yes, I know, a bad workman blames his tools and all that, but hey, I did discover that perhaps one of the reasons I'm having so much difficulty controlling that fiendish tool is because the spout was bent over too much .... so the wax has been flowing out at an extra fast rate of knots and I've found it quite frustrating that I am unable to get my hand close enough to the fabric to get any real control. Been using it like that for two lessons and now they tell me!! Fingers crossed then that my next attempts will be an improvement! The pic above shows my painting drying before the second application of wax and more painting. By that stage I was wondering if it wouldn't have been better to have left well alone as it looked even more like something a child of 6 could produce! No photos of it now, but if it is not a total disaster, all will be revealed next week!



Here is last week's painting hanging out to dry after the process of fixing the dye by soaking the fabric in a water and sodium silicate solution, rinsing in cold water and then adding the fabric to very hot water with soda ash to loosen the wax. Finally another rinse out and it's done. Phew, creating batik is not for the faint-hearted, that's for sure!





Here are the experts at work again. That's better- this is how it should be done!



This week's pottery class saw us making yet more pinch pots (got to get the basics right!) and then having a first 'go' at throwing on the wheel. That's Mr Lam in the pic above showing us how it should be done! Then it was my turn, which was lots of fun but I have new found respect for all you potters out there! Centering the clay is really difficult, never mind controlling it as you try to form something.




LOL !!! I ended up with this odd 'vessel' which went straight back into the rejects bag for recyling!! Ah well, only another 20 years of practice then!!

Batik painting and pottery classes

I've recently started taking lessons in batik painting and pottery - two things I've always wanted to try my hand at. And what better place to learn than here in Malayia? Just look at the environment! The lessons are held in covered outdoor studios in lovely surroundings not far from my home. Admittedly it's pretty humid and there are a few mosquitoes biting but otherwise it's a real pleasure to be creating surrounded by nature!



The batik classes are actually held in a working studio - my teacher is Malaysian fashion designer Azizi of Zizi Design, who creates beautiful, exclusive silk garments decorated with gorgeous hand painted batik designs.





In his workshop several batik artists recreate his designs on huge lengths of silk. Fascinating to watch and learn from these experts!








Batik is a process of resist - portions of the fabric (usually silk or cotton) are coated with melted wax and the fabric is then submerged in or painted with dye. The dye does not penetrate areas of fabric that are covered with wax and they remain their original colour. The wax is applied with a traditional tool called a Tjanting. This little metal holder with spout is attached to a wooden handle and is dipped into the (very) hot melted wax. Lines are then drawn with it to create the design. The trick is to avoid getting blobs of wax on the fabric whilst keeping a steady hand and not forgetting, of course, not to touch the hot metal. Believe me this instrument is hard to control at first and potentially lethal!



First we practiced drawing lines with the Tjanting - quite tricky to keep a steady hand, and ensure that the wax is just the right temperature. Too hot and the wax flows too fast creating blobs and thick lines. Too cold and the wax won't penetrate the fabric. A bit of a challenge next - we had to come up with a design and draw it straight onto the fabric which has been stretched on a frame. The wax was then applied to our designs with much muttering about blobs, wobbly lines and blocked tjantings! A good thing we are not using pure silk for our first attempt!


At last came the magical part - colour! Juicy dyes applied with brushes which spread quickly to fill in the design. It's a little like trying to control watercolour and can be rather unpredictable! The photo shows Evelyn at work on her banana trees with brush and dye.



Here is my first attempt! Lots of very thick wax lines where they shouldn't be there (oops!), but I'm quite pleased with it - I think the dark blue background sets off the hibiscus flower and butterflies well.



Our work drying in the sunshine. Next week we will find out how to remove the wax and fix the dye before attempting another design - on real silk this time! I've brought the stretched silk home so that I can prepare for the lesson in advance and hope to show you the design in due course.






Here I am in the pottery studio! I've spent two lessons learning how to prepare the clay and how to create basic pinch pots. Not very exciting, but you've got to start somewhere! Kneading the clay is pretty hot work and I'm finding new muscles in my arms! As for the pinch pots, well, I have to say that my first attempts at these little pots are pretty awful, but my pottery teacher Mr Lam is very encouraging - so maybe there's hope yet! Mr Lam, by the way, is also a very talented oil painter who paints colourful nostalgic scenes of Malaysian life in the 1950's and 60's. I hope to show you some of his work in my next post.