Batik – Bherugarh Print

Just a few kilometers from the majestic Ujjain, lies this small village of Bherugarh, on the banks of mighty Shipra River. It’s an age-old craft of wax-resist dyeing and printing which is believed to have been practiced in countries like Egypt, Japan, and India for over 2000 years. Batik, the art of antiquity, knocked on the doors of the handloom and craft industry in Madhya Pradesh during the Mughal times. Today, the village of Bherugarh consists of about 800 men and women involved in printing. The art of batik is the three-stage process of waxing, dyeing, and de-waxing or removing the wax.

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Waxing

· Fabric first washes thoroughly to get rid of the starch and other stains before the dyeing. · Fabric is stretched on a wooden frame above the sand. (sand for absorbing the molten wax) · The parts of the design white must be white before any subsequent dyeing. Wax applying technique :- Kalam print : Molten wax is applied with a thin brush or a special pen(kalam) is used to achieve very fine lines. Wax is filled in the pen and it flows via the small hole in the spout to the cloth. Block print : block is dipped into molten wax and print it on fabric, for getting desired designs

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Dyeing

· After the first waxing, the fabric is dipped into a dye bath whose color is the lightest tone to be used. · When the piece has dried, there would be an area of white and area of cloth i. e color of first dye. · Wax is now applied to those parts in which we wish to retain the first color, and the entire is immersed in the second dye bath whose color is darker in tone required in the final design got.

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Removing the wax

There are several ways to remove fabric wax, including ironing it off between sheets of newspaper, taking it to the dry cleaner or scraping it off. However, the most effective way to remove batik wax is to boil it off. Fill a large pot with water, add a little liquid soap and bring it to a simmer. Submerge your batik fabric, stirring to loosen the batik wax. Once all the batik wax has floated to the top, weight the batik fabric down to the bottom and let the whole pot cool until the fabric wax hardens. Peel the hardened wax layer off the top and remove your cloth.