SueCS textiles: Batik By-Pass workshop

Hi I am suffering at the moment -just had a biopsy in my mouth- quite sore at the moment, but at least it's stopped me talking for a while!!!.

We had a great day yesterday at the Batik By-Pass workshop in Avant garden Centre, I had six students in the end- just the right number! It was the first time I had run this workshop- so it was a learning curve for me as well as the students- NB I must put the wax pots on earlier as they take quite a while to warm up- also don't bother taking sewing machines etc as not nearly enough time to get that far in one day.

However, it was a relaxing and stimulating day, with the students firstly making small samples really to get used to wielding the tjantings. Not an easy task!

We used Inktense Blocks, Koh-n-Noor & Dy-na-Flow to colour the fabric after or in fact before applying the wax with tjantings or brushes. This eliminates the use of dye vats, which makes it a very lengthy process. The colours achieved are beautiful, with Inktense being especially vivid, & Dye-na-Flow being more subdued.

I did muck up a wooden stamp trying to experiment, however the whole idea was to play & try ideas out- which in part was achieved. I also managed to get additional painted finger marks on Lyn's scarf & by putting Margaret's large silk piece on a very flimsy airer outside, which due to the strong wind proceeded to fall gracefully into a bird bath with greenish water in. Luckily her scarf was mainly green- so she was not too bothered- added to the whole feel of the piece!!!

Two of the students started to make batik silk scarves, with varying results- as you can see below;

I cannot remember who made what, but you can see we produced some lovely pieces and the best part was everyone had fun!!!