Making Batik Fabric in Saint Lucia!
Cruising the Caribbean…winter 2024
My husband and I were lucky enough to go on a cruise of the Caribbean this past winter.
One of our stops was the beautiful island of Saint Lucia!
As luck would have it, one of the tours offered by our cruise ship was a visit to a batik fabric facility!
The beautiful building you see in the photo is the Howelton Estate, one of the oldest buildings in St Lucia.
It was here, in the lowest level, that a small batik demonstration was offered.
Now this was not what I would consider a working factory. There was one artisan on site. This was more of a demonstration but I was not complaining as I was very excited to see the process firsthand!
Demonstrations
The demonstration took place in a room behind these shuttered windows. There were a lot of batik examples in varying phases of completion.
The tour itself was short, only about 40 minutes. I can safely say I was probably the only person in our group of approx 30 people who was solely focused on this part of the tour. LOL.
As you can see in the photo, the working conditions were rustic.
The ceiling and blackened condition of the walls gave me pause. I do not know if their condition was due to the batik making process or something else unrelated.
We were not allowed to walk through this area but it was clearly visible from where we stood during the tour.
Bright batik examples hung in rows across the ocean overlook.
To make this batik fabric, hot wax is applied with a wax pen or stamp (stamps were used in the long flowing strips of fabric).
Anything covered in wax resists the application of dye.
Areas not covered in wax, absorbs dye.
Once dyeing is complete, the wax is removed by boiling the fabric in hot water.
It’s a fascinating process and the result is beautiful, one of a kind art!
These geckos were adorable. :)
Although batiks are traditionally associated with Indonesia, they are actually made all over the world.
I got some close up photos of an artisan applying wax by hand.
This piece of fabric is in the initial stages and still being coated with wax which explains the absence of any dye yet.
After all of the wax is applied, the fabric will be submerged in dye. The wax will prevent it from being absorbed.
I think it will turn out like the blue and white example you see hanging on the wall behind the artist.
Although you can’t tell from the photo, this was a slow process of drawing the wax onto the fabric. He constantly had to reapply wax to his instrument.
It’s a process…
The turtle on the white fabric in the background has only an initial coating of wax on the original undyed fabric making it difficult to see the turtle outline without blowing up the photo.
Stamps
There were a variety of metal stamps on display.
Lots of practice!
The fabric is stamped by hand and getting consistent amounts of wax onto the stamps and transferred to the fabric is difficult and takes skill.
Beeswax!
The wax they use is made from paraffin and beeswax. We found this particularly interesting as beekeepers!
Other photos…
