African Batiks

I have always loved contemporary African art pieces. Recently, I have been educating myself about the different kinds of African art pieces and how they are created.
This led me to what are known as Batiks, these are one of my favorite pieces but as i found out, it is a long process to create them.
-In traditional batik work, melted wax is applied to cloth before the colorful dyes are applied.

-It is common for people to use a mixture of bees wax and paraffin wax. The bee's wax will hold to the fabric and the paraffin wax will allow cracking, which is a characteristic of some batiks.

-Often the cloth is dipped in the dyes, sometimes the dye is painted on the fabric. Wherever the wax has seeped through the fabric, the dye will not penetrate. Sometimes several colors are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps.

-Batiks are made by brushing hot liquid wax onto a piece of cotton cloth in the desired pattern. The wax acts as a barrier to the dyes that are then applied to the cloth. The dyes are then applied to the areas that are not covered by the wax.

-The wax is then removed and reapplied repeatedly to mask off other areas of the cloth, and then different colors are applied. I was not aware of this process most especially the use of bee wax. As i said earlier Batiks are great contemporary art pieces to have in your collection.