Batik Print of African Woman Preparing food

Tourists buy these items by the arm full when visiting Swaziland. They make a beautiful picture when framed behind glass.

These Batik prints are very popular the world over. Here in Swaziland, they are made in the most primitive way without any modern tools.

The process of making a Batik print, is quite an involved one: The artist starts off by drawing a picture on cloth. These drawings are then outlined with wax. The wax covers the area of the cloth that should not be dyed. The cloth is then placed in the sun for a short while to dry and then placed in clothes dye. The dyes contain a fixing agent to properly bond with the material. It is then again left in the sun to dry. After the drying process, it is then placed between two absorbent sheets of paper, and ironed with a coal or electric iron to melt away the wax. This process is continuously repeated until the desired images are obtained.

Batik Print of African Woman Preparing food