Art with Krystie: Indonesian "Batik" - Thanksgiving Table Runners

Indonesian "Batik" Table Runners

Batik originated in Indonesia. It is a beautiful art form, traditionally using hot wax and dyes on fabric.

For safety reasons, students can't use wax, so this is the closest we can get, with similar results.

We used fall and Thanksgiving as inspiration for our batik table runners. The students spent one class drawing their designs onto the white muslin fabric with a pencil. It was important to note that the more simple the design, the better it ends up. Any large, empty areas were places where the students were encouraged to add even simple, organic lines or patterns.

The next step was to trace over the pencil marks with Elmer's school glue gel.

Because the gel spreads a bit after application, intricate designs don't work as well. Once finished, these were allowed to dry overnight. Don't worry that the gel is blue. Everywhere that the gel goes will end up as white when the project is finished.

During our next class, students painted their fabric with acrylic paint. We stayed with a warm color palette - using fall colors such as brown, red, yellow and orange. Its ok to paint over the dried gel.

Every bit of the fabric should be painted - and covered completely with paint. Be sure to really saturate the fabric. I was impressed that one of my students tried mixing colors right on the fabric - with beautiful results! The fabric should be allowed to dry completely.

Because this was our last class, we didn't have time to do the final, and most fun step, in class. Once the fabric is completely dry, the last step is to wash the fabric out by hand. Fill a sink with warm water and submerge the fabric completely. Let it sit for 5 minutes or so. This will soften and loosen the dried gel. Use your hands to gently rub the remaining gel off the fabric. In the process, the paint will soften and come off as well. Be sure to work your way across the entire piece of fabric to loosen all gel and paint. Rinse in cold water, and repeat for any areas that may still have bits of gel or paint. And don't worry - you can't mess this up!