{{Batik is a word used in West Africa consisting on the process of hand decorating and printing a fabric in which parts not to be dyed are covered by wax.}} <\/p>\n
African fashion really spread worldwide with the batik fabrics tailored in the western fashion way. The patterns on the fabrics reflect the beauty, texture and simplicity of the African tradition.<\/p>\n
These fabrics are originally from West Africa; Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana and the Gambia.<\/p>\n
{{History and manufacture}}<\/p>\n
There are examples of batik textiles in many parts of Africa but the most developed skills are to be found in Nigeria when the Yoruba people make Adire clothes.<\/p>\n
Two methods are used in the dying and printing of the fabric: Adire Eleso which involves tied and stitched designs and Adire Eleko where the starch paste is used.<\/p>\n
The paste is most often made from cassava (a root plant) flour, rice, alum or copper sulfate boiled together to produce a smooth thick paste. <\/p>\n
The paste produced from that mixture is used in two different ways.<\/p>\n
The first; using the freehand drawing of traditional designs using a feather, thin stick piece of fine bone, a metal or a wooden comb-like tool. This one is done by women.<\/p>\n
Men on the other hand force the pasting through a thin metal stencil with a flexible metal or wooden tool; this enables accurate repeat patterns to be achieved.<\/p>\n
The patterning of cloth is usually a family tradition handed down from mother to daughter as a cottage industry. <\/p>\n
The cloth is usually divided into squares or rectangles and designs represent everyday tools, carvings, bead work, activities or traditional image of the artists own culture or tribal history.<\/p>\n
An Eleko cloth (paste used) is usually made up of 2.2 meters pieces sewn together.<\/p>\n
The traditional dye is indigo from a plant that grows throughout Africa. They produce a dark blue color which varies with the varieties of indigo. Once the paste resist is dry, the fabric is dyed in large clay pots or pits dug in the earth.<\/p>\n
After dying, the paste is scraped off to reveal a white or pale blue design. The usual cloth is cotton but highly prized clothing using wild silk is sometimes produced.<\/p>\n
But in recent years, other clothes using the African designs have been produced in Britain ( Manchester clothes) and Holland, these ones are made by the machine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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