About Batik

I first became interested in the magic of batik in my early teaching days around 20 years ago. Batik is a wax resist technique that involves applying hot molten wax onto paper or cloth to resist some areas before dipping or hand painting with dyes. It is something anyone can pick up and have a go at, so is very accessible but the skill and beauty of some of the incredible work seen in Indonesia, Java, China and Japan would take a lifetime to master. I am a member of The Batik Guild and you can learn more about batik through the Batik Guild Website www.batikguild.org.uk

2024 has been designated the Year of Batik by the Guild and a whole host of workshops events and exhibitions have been happening to promote the craft internationally including traditional and contemporary work.

Through both the Batik Guild and www.batikinternational.com websites you can learn more about ancient and contemporary batik.

I have been lucky to have a fantastic batik teacher, Rosi Robinson, a member of The Sussex Guild who teaches regularly in the UK and Canada. https://rosirobinson.com @rosirobinson on Instagram. Below is one of my favourite pieces created at one of Rosi’s workshops. This one has sold but I have other pieces available on the batik section of my website gallery.

‘Clouds Gather at Dusk’ hand painted batik on cotton fabric

I am a mixed media textile artist and batik is one of the techniques I enjoy using. The freedom of working with the unpredictability of the wax and wet dyes contrasts nicely with the control and detail needed for embroidery. I love the immersive qualities of both activities and enjoy switching between the two or adding stitch to my batik based work. The pieces below all include embroidered details. From left to right ‘Red Trees and River Reeds with machine embroidery, ‘Blue-Green Sea’ a coastal scene of Worthing with hand embroidered detail and ‘Spring reflections’ which incorporates a scrafitto technique to create teh dark lines and some hand embroidered details.

I now enjoy teaching batik myself to beginners sometimes combined with natural dyeing. I have a regular summer batik weekend at Sussex Prairie Gardens and can offer individual teaching for 1-2 people at a time in my studio. Please contact me if you would like to know more about any of the work or to try batik for yourself.

Thanks, Susan.