The Beauty of Batik

Batik is very famous in Malaysia and other South East Asian countries. Batik can be made into clothing, become the material for purses, hats, caps, pencil cases, curtains, table cloths and many other items. It is also an ancient art and a complex one. It is using wax as a resist, was developed in many places around the world. The Russians in Czarist times used wax as resist to produce their spectacular Easter eggs, the West Africans and Japanese used indigo dye and wax resist to create elegant fabrics, but nowhere was the batik art more advanced than in Java, the largest of the Indonesian islands.

Batik Painting

Traditional batik was made with a copper stamp or drawn on cloth by hand using a tool called a chanting. A chanting is a little copper bowl with a spout attached to a wood or bamboo handle. The chanting is dipped into hot wax. The artist draws with the chanting by using the law of gravity.The wax to pours out of the spout and penetrates the fabric.

They draw with washable markers so the original lines will disappear once the piece is waxed. They usually work on fine rayon, although batik is often done on silk or cotton.

After wax has been applied to our line drawings, the fabric is stretched flat on a frame. The dyes we use to paint spread easily, too easily. The art is in controlling where they go, and how each color interacts with others, when to use a lot of water and when to use none at all.



The final product is a beautiful, durable and washable painting of fabric. These batiks will not fade, shrink or bleed.

Batik Stamping

Stamping batik requires special equipment. Here is a stamping table and the stamping plate.

copper which is use to make the stamp table and plate.

The stamping process requires special skill and is expertly practiced. After stamping the piece will be colored again, creating a luminous effect.

The fabric, after being stamped, is pinched into a pattern. Several colors are applied systematically and allowed to bleed together.

The batik now must be made permanent by applying fixative and boiling. Until a piece of batik is processed the colors are water soluble and can be destroyed easily. But batik process, especially commercial application does have adverse effects on the environment. Batik is all processed by hand, boiled in a forty four gallon drum, and washed out in the river.


The whole Batik process revolves around the principle that wax and water repel each other. When hot liquid wax is applied to cloth, it hardens almost immediately. The wax then acts essentially as a mask, protecting the area of cloth saturated with the wax from becoming saturated with water. If dye is added to water, the area of fabric left exposed and not covered by wax becomes saturated with the dye. Dye cannot penetrate a fabric where wax is painted.

paraffin wax

It is therefore possible to build up multicoloured batik by waiting for the cloth to dry and waxing in previously dyed sections to prevent the next dye colour from taking. This principle works very effectively if work from light to dark coloured dyes. Another, quicker method is to draw an outline of hot wax onto the fabric, creating completely enclosed areas or circles of wax. Dye is then hand-painted with in the wax borders. These borders stop the different coloured dyes from running into each other.

bee wax

Wax is one of the oldest forms of textile resist and is perhaps the strongest. It is possible to use it in long, cool, immersion dye baths and in hand painting projects. Natural beeswax and paraffin wax can all be used in numerous combinations for a variety of effects. Natural beeswax is malleable and tacky and when mixed to a ratio of one to one with paraffin creates a strong resist and the characteristic crackle that defines batik. It may also be used at a ratio of 70% beeswax to 30% paraffin to create concise detail with little crackle.

Beware of Sugar!

More than ever, people are consuming large amounts of sugar as part of their daily diet. But in excess, sugar can take its toll. Eating large amounts of sugar adds extra calories, which can cause weight gain. So many people opt for artificial sweeteners, it also referred to as sugar substitutes or low-calorie sweeteners as a way to enjoy their favorite foods without as many calories.

Artificial sweeteners are chemicals or natural compounds that offer the sweetness of sugar without as many calories. Because the substitutes are much sweeter than sugar, it takes a much smaller quantity to create the same sweetness. Products made with artificial sweeteners have a much lower calorie count than do those made with sugar. Artificial sweeteners are often used as part of a weight-loss plan or as a means to control weight gain.

People with diabetes may use artificial sweeteners because they make food taste sweet without raising blood sugar levels. But keep in mind that if you do have diabetes, some foods containing artificial sweeteners such as sugar-free yogurt. It can still affect your blood sugar level due to other carbohydrates or proteins in the food. Some foods labeled "sugar-free" such as sugar-free cookies and chocolates may contain sweeteners, which contain calories and can affect your blood sugar level. Also, remember that foods containing sugar substitutes may also contain calories that may undermine your ability to lose weight and control blood sugar.

There are several types of artificial sugar......

Acesulfame-K :

~ the K refers to potassium, the form of this substance used commercially is the potassium salt.

~ approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. Because acesulfame-K is heat-stable, it can be used in cooking and baking.

~ it is not metabolized in the human body. Thus, it provides no calories and does not influence potassium intake despite its potassium content.

Aspartame :

~ approximately 180 times sweeter than sugar. Therefore, only very small amounts that provide very few calories are necessary to sweeten a food or beverage.

~ unstable if subjected to prolonged heating and therefore cannot be used in baking or cooking.

~ also decomposes in liquids during prolonged storage.

Neotame :
~ it is intensely sweet, with a sweetness potency at least 7000 times that of sugar and at least 30 times that of aspartame.

~ because neotame is extraordinarily sweet, the amount needed to sweeten a food or beverage is extremely small.

~ it is heat stable and thus can be used in cooking and baking. It does not contribute to tooth decay.

Saccharin :

~ it is 300 times sweeter than sugar.

~ passes through the human body intact, providing no food energy. Thus, its caloric content is zero.

~ it is the least expensive of the low-calorie sweeteners, but its suitability for some food applications is limited because its sweet taste is accompanied by bitterness.

Sucralose :

~ it is made from sugar, the human body does not recognize it as a sugar and does not metabolize it. Therefore, it provides no calories.

~ it is about 600 times sweeter than sugar and it is heat-stable during cooking and baking.

~ it can be used in a wide variety of foods and beverages.

How To Cut Back On Sugar In Others Way?

• Gradually cut down the amount of sugar in tea, coffee and cereals.
• Beware of chocolate, cakes, biscuits and sweets.
• Cut down on jams, honey, marmalade, syrup and treacle.
• Use low sugar versions of your favourite desserts and sweets.
• Buy tinned fruit in natural juice instead of syrup.
• Avoid buying sugar and honey coated breakfast cereals.

Plastic Profile

Plastics are polymeric materials, a material built up from long repeating chains of molecules. Polymers such as rubber occur naturally, but it was not until the development of synthetic polymers around year of 1910 that the polymers tailored to the needs of the engineer first started to appear.During the Second World War, plastics such as nylon and polyethylene were used as a replacement material for other materials in short supply.

The mechanical properties of plastics tend to be inferior to most metals. Fibre reinforced plastics are extensively used where the mechanical properties of the base plastic material are not sufficient. However, because of their relatively low weight, the ability to colour the plastics when manufacturing and the ability to mould complex shapes relatively easily, plastics are extensively used for product casings and other applications where mechanical strength is not at a premium.

Plastics are not cheap materials. The cost of raw plastic materials is typically higher than steel but less than aluminium. However, because processing costs over large production runs are lower, the use of plastics can result in significantly cheaper products. For applications requiring strength, the plastics can be reinforced by fibres, usually glass, which give the material added strength. There are two main families of plastics, thermoset plastics and thermo plastics.

Thermo plastics become soft when heated. They can be easily moulded and remoulded without significant degrading. Thermo plastics consist of long molecular chains with no regular structure or very little regular structure.

thermo plastics available:

---Polyethylene ---Polystyrene
---Polycarbonate ---Nylon
---Acrylic ---Acetal

Thermoset plastics are rigid plastics, resistant to higher temperatures than thermoplastics. Once set, a thermoset plastics cannot be remoulded.

thermoset plastics available:

---Expoxies---Polyester

There are about 50 different groups of plastics, with hundreds of different varieties. All types of plastic are recyclable. To make sorting and thus recycling easier, the American Society of Plastics Industry developed a standard marking code to help consumers identify and sort the main types of plastic. These types and their most common uses are:

Polyethylene terephthalate - Fizzy drink bottles and oven-ready meal trays.

High-density polyethylene - Bottles for milk and washing-up liquids.

Polyvinyl chloride - Food trays, cling film, bottles for squash, mineral water and shampoo.

Low density polyethylene - Carrier bags and bin liners.

Polypropylene - Margarine tubs and microwaveable meal trays.

Polystyrene - Foam meat or fish trays, hamburger boxes and egg cartons, vending cups, plastic cutlery, protective packaging for electronic goods and toys.

Any other plastics that do not fall into any of the above categories. - An example is melamine, which is often used in plastic plates and cups.