Harmony Day Festival Batiks

How to:

This unit was planned in response to our integrated specialist study and whole school term 1 focus – “Celebrating Cultures Represented By The Families In Our School” and annual Harmony Day Festival.

The unit was further inspired by costumes and artefacts brought to school by students to share and display.

It was strengthened by a visit from a group of students and their teachers from Singapore to share their traditional art and experience a workshop of ours.

• Students were immersed in examples of batik and fabric decoration from many countries, including Indonesia, India, Africa, and Japan through the Internet, books, and pictures.

• We discussed the origins of techniques such as batik and tie dye and ways fabrics have been changed/decorated over the centuries.

• We spent time looking at various artworks, pieces of clothing and household items such as rugs, carpets, wall hangings for examples of colours, pattern, line and suggested how these aspects might have been created/produced.

• We also immersed ourselves in literature from other cultures as we researched possible themes for inclusion in our work.

• Students explored designs for their own individual pieces: the sea, plants or mythological creatures.

• They spent time sketching ideas, exploring pattern and line to fill in areas of their work.

• We discussed the requirements of the design and the tools and process we would be following to produce our own pieces.

• We would be working with cold wax applied with small applicator bottles.

• Students drew simple practise designs on to small fabric samples of cotton fabric. They experimented with applying the wax.

• Discussion followed – how hard to squeeze the bottle and how this affected the flow of the dye; holding the bottle just above the fabric; applying an even flow was preferable unless you particularly wanted a different effect.

• Through their own experimentation and subsequent discussion students also found it was important to have detail in their design; lines, patterns but the lines in their designs had to be spaced as the lines of dye tended to join up if lines were too close to one another.

• Students then had time to experiment with the magnificent coloured cold water dyes.

• They could be painted with various sized brushes, dribbled, dotted or dabbed depending on the effect you wanted

• Their chosen designs were transferred on to larger pieces of cotton fabric in pencil.

• After ironing the designs between layers of newspaper to remove traces of the wax students completed their pieces using specialty items such as sequins and glitter glues.

• We discussed the outcomes of the unit and students created their own Rubik for self evaluation at the end of the unit. This also helped keep them on track with the process and requirements of the task. The “Six Thinking Hats” and questions related to this technique also helped guide students through the unit and to evaluate their piece of work-

• The unit was completed over term 1 in 1 hour sessions.

Aspendale Gardens Primary School