Claire's blog

At the Festival we saw the lovely work of Marie-Thérèse King & Sarah Jones, who are Eekbatik.  They run workshops from The Fold in Worcestershire, where they also show their work, so yesterday I set off there with Mum as neither of us had ever tried batik before!

Playing on paper

We started off by drawing with wax on paper, so that we could have a play with the different tools.  There were several brushes together with some cantings and kyskas.  It was great to start off working on paper, both to produce more in the day but also as when we first started with the tools the wax went everywhere!

Mum's practice piece on paper

Once the wax was on we got to play with the dyes.  They came in fantastic bright colours and were great fun to use.  We then put the papers to one side to dry, and starting sketching out our designs on fabric (using a thin cotton stretched on a wooden frame).

My second practice piece on paper

I took a book on The Matyó Roses with me for inspiration, and sketched out a design based on embroidery patterns.  This took FOREVER and I was only able to get a small part of the painting done before we broke for lunch (which we had at the Eco Cafe at The Fold, and I’d really recommend their chocolate and beetroot cake – yum!).  After lunch we all worked like crazy to finish painting the first layer on the fabric, then do a second layer of wax and paint on both our sheets of paper and the fabric.

My finished batik

We just managed to finish in the time, and have the wax ironed off our work ready to take home.

Mum based her design on the folk art of Edit Halász

The Fold was a lovely venue that looked wonderful in the sunlight, and the food at the cafe was very enjoyable.  It was a bit hard to find as it’s not signposted until you’re right on top of it, and I think it could have been made easier to find your way around the site.  Also, several of the artist workshops were closed (although we bought a really nice piece from this lady), and the cafe shuts at 4pm, just as we were coming out of the workshop ready for a drink and some ice cream before the trek back to Nottingham.

Overall though, it was a really good day.  Marie-Thérèse was a great teacher, and I really felt we learnt a lot.