Materials For Designing Batik

The materials needed to design batik are ;

1.  Fabric. It is recommended to use fabric made from natural fibers such as silk, cotton or linen rather than synthetics fibers, because natural fibers will absorb the dye much better than the synthetic fibers. 
2. Frames. The frames are used to hold the cloth when making the batik. For silk and finer fabrics it is possible to use masking tape to secure the cloth to the frame to prevent it from tearing.
3. Wax. The wax is used as the materials to design the batik. a beginner is advised to use paraffin wax. Specialist batik use mixture wax of paraffin and beeswax.  
4.  Wax Pot. This pot is to prevent the wax from solidifying. The electric wax pot is easier to use as you can adjust the temperature.
5. Soft Blunt Pencil. To draw the desired pattern on the fabric.
6. Brushes. A cheap brush with varied sizes are preferable for applying the wax onto the fabric.
7. Tjantings. Tool used to draw specific lines with the wax. Tjantings comes in many sizes, the smaller one is for the detail while the bigger one is for the design.
8. Container for the dyeing process.
9. Newspaper, apron, gloves, pan, large spoon, tongs, cleaning solvent, drawing pins, tissue.

   

   wax pot with wax and tjantings

   
   

   

   design on fabric with tjantings

Pottery

Pottery is made by forming a clay into an object mostly vase, cups, etc, then heating them to a high temperature in a kiln which purpose is to remove all the water in the clay, which help to strengthen, hardening and setting the shape. When kneading the clay, some air are trapped inside the clay. Kneading help to moisturize the clay. The air inside the clay must be remove, this is called de-airing and can be done using a machine called a vacuum pug or can be done manually by wedging. Once a clay body has been kneaded and de-aired or wedged, it is shaped by a variety of techniques. After shaping the clay, you must wait for it to dry and then heating it. Some decoration of design or patterns ca be added on the clay-body after or before heating it.

There are many types of clay that can be used for pottery, some of them are;

1. Kaolin, also known as China clay as it is first used in China.
2. Stoneware Clay, this clay is very suitable for creating a stoneware. This clay have a finer grain and more heat resistant.
3. Fire Clay, it is quite plastic, highly heat resistant that can be combined with other clays to increase the firing temperature.

There are many techniques to create a pottery, some of them are;

1. By using hand or manually, also known as hand building. It is the oldest technique. Parts of hand-built vessels are often joined together with the aid of slip, an aqueous suspension of clay body and water. It is very rare to create the same pottery using hand building, so sometimes it refers to  one-of-a-kind works of art.
   

   
2. Use the potter's wheel. Using the process of throwing, a ball of clay is placed on the center of a turntable, called the wheel-head, then it start to rotate with a stick, with foot power or with a variable-speed electric motor.
   
   
   

   

Recycled Arts

Recycled Arts refers to creating an artwork using used or recycled materials such as cans, papers, plastic bottles, etc. Nowadays, recycled arts have become more popular as people realize that there is just too much junk in the Earth. So, the artist make full use of the used materials and changed them from junk into a piece of art. The artwork can be either usable or just for decoration.

I, myself have made an artwork from recycled materials. I used old cameras and I dismantle them. After dismantling them, I gathered all the usable parts and assembled them into an animal. It turned out quite well. There are many artist who use recycled materials as their components for creating artworks, such as Macaon. He mainly used beer cans and soda cans. In this picture he made a goldfish from cans. Other than this, he also made sculptures from cans of many famous characters such as Buzz Lightyear, Mario, Hello Kitty and many more.

his collection includes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. Many - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

his collection includes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. Many - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

ludes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

ludes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

ludes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

.