Bandhani ,Katazome, Batik, Blaudruck, Shibori - what do these textiles have in common?

Bandhani, Katazome, Batik, Blaudruck, Shibori are all resist dye textiles. 

Bandhani is an ancient tie-dye art form known for its unique texture, patterns, and finesse of dots achieved through the plucking and tying of tiny bindings into cloth with thread.  

Katazome (or Japanese stencil dyeing) is a centuries-old method of printing on cloth using paper stencils and a rice paste resist in combination with indigo.

Batik is by far the most recognisable and closely associated textile technique of Indonesia; with its distinctive tiny spots and graphic motifs the word itself stems from the Javanese word amba meaning ‘to write’ and titik meaning ‘dot’ or ‘point’. It’s a wax-resist process where the cloth is covered, layer by layer with hot molten wax applied by a Tjanting Tool in an elaborate motif.

Blaudruck is the complex and time-consuming technique of blueprinting. To apply the designs on to the cloth using handcrafted wooden blocks and, depending on the desired depth and intensity of blue, the dyeing process can take up to 4 hours and requires up to 9 or more dips into the indigo vat. 

Shibori uses indigo and incorporates the clamping of larger shapes and blocks (itajime), and the cylindrical wrapping of threads (bo maki shibori), to achieve continuous linear compositions.

You can learn more about natural dyeing during our next talk on Wednesday 9 December 2020, Resist Dyeing with Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, Sang Made Erass Taman and Abduljabbar Khatri. Taking into consideration our international audience, the talk will be recorded and the recording will be shared with all ticket holders. Tickets available here.