Dyes in Culture
Henna
and Mehandi
Batik Batik is Javanese
in origin and very ancient craft dating back at least two thousand
years. Batik has been continuously practiced in Java for centuries. Batik is a
wax resist method of dyeing fabric. An original design is sketched
directly onto the fabric. The patterns to be dyed into the the clothe
are drawn with a canting, a wooden 'pen' fitted with a reservoir
for hot, liquid wax. In batik workshops, circles of women sit working
at clothes draped over frames, and periodically replenish their
supply of wax by dipping their canting into a central vat. Some
draw directly on the the cloth from memory; others wax over faint
charcoal lines. This method of drawing patterns in wax on
fine machine-woven cotton was practiced as a form of meditation
by the female courtiers of Central Java; traditionally, batik tulis
(tulis means 'write' in Indonesian) is produced by women. The fabric
is then placed in a dye bath to add background color. Finally the
fabric is treated chemically to assure color fastness, boiled to
remove the wax and then washed.
Achiote Achiote is used in Spanish families to color food. Achiote
is the same as Annato Seed. In Americanized-Spanish families, it
is used to color and flavor the turkey at Thanksgiving.
Navajo
Dyes
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