Although Batik is not strictly Thai folk art, it is considered an interesting handicraft full of craftsmanship, with a unique technique of printing colored designs on cloth. More importantly, this method of printing can generate employment for those who pay serious attention to it.
Such a group of woman, belonging to the Haad Noppharat Thara Cooperatives, in Muang District of the southern province of Krabi, has joined hands to print batik designs on cloth, as a way of earning supplementary incomes. They have received support from the cooperative promotion department, ministry of agriculture and cooperatives.
Steps in batik production are not complicated, and can be learned through practice. You can also create batik designs with your own style. Printing batik designs starts by washing the cloth to expunge any oil or flour.
The cloth is then dried in the sun before being printed with colored designs, which may be imprinted by paper or drawn by pencil.
But first you must boil wax until it dissolves in water, and then use a brush to coat a wooden frame with liquid wax to prevent the cloth from slipping down the frame. The cloth to be printed with designs is placed into the wooden frame and then tightened. Newspaper is put on the back to prevent colors from spreading over the other side of the cloth.
The next step is to print designs with liquid wax. The wax should be boiled at an appropriate temperature over an electric stove, as wax is flammable. Adding water to hot, liquid wax is strictly forbidden. When the liquid wax is hot enough to percolate through paper, and is clear like oil, the liquid is then used to print designs on the cloth. All lines on the designs should be drawn to connect with one another, with no spaces, because colors will percolate and spread into them.
You may buy only primary colors and mix them to produce the desired colors. In order to paint, a color should be dissolved little by little in sufficient volumes of water in a covered container. Leftover colors can be kept for reuse in the next production. Even so, they should not be kept for over two weeks, since their quality will deteriorate. Before painting, some water is spread on the cloth.
Then the desired colors, dark or light, are printed. You are recommended o start with the dark color and the cloth will be repainted while the color in the previous printing is still wet. After the wax has boiled, the color will deteriorate by about 30 percent. After the designs are printed with colors, the wooden frame must be placed in a horizontal position to prevent colors from running. Later, the cloth is dried completely in the sun.
Following the painting stage, Sodium silicate is spread over the cloth and left for around 3 to 6 hors or more. The wooden frame is then removed, and water used to wash out the Sodium silicate. After that, the cloth is placed into water boiled for a while, and then plunged into cool water. You should crush it with your hands to make sure that all traces of wax are removed. If some remain, you should boil the cloth again before drying it in the sun as the last step.
