KLIB Convention 2009 SpeakersContemporary Seaweed Batik
by Olivia Batchelder
United States of America
Experimentation with resist mediums other than wax provides a rich source of new design possibilities. Water-based resists allow for the inclusion of dyes within the gel compound, opening a new method for painted-on colored resists for direct application with brushes, tjanting tools, or brand new tools. The viscosity can be controlled for various types of applications. Printing methods for unique contemporary textiles include stamping tools, sea sponges, screen-printing, and especially mono-printing.
The starch extracted from sea vegetables, such as agar agar, kelp, and brown algae is referred to as a gum, and has unique gelatinous properties, different from land-based starch vegetables such as tapioca, rice, and sago palm starch, but these are also useful.
In hand-painting the seaweed gel medium onto the cloth, the brush drag produces very beautiful notched edges and tiny pools. These tiny pools can be filled later with liquid dye from the tip of the paintbrush, producing a multi-colored design with much detail and rich textural properties. Incorporating mono-print techniques for clean line-work and addtional textures creates layers of design that make for complex contemporary textile treatments with a very different appearance from traditional wax batik. Seaweed batik offers many possibilities to produce unique art cloth, adding to the rich tradition of wax batik art fabrics.