About BATIK
Batik is a
"resist" technique. Melted wax is applied to the fabric, then the fabric is
dipped in dye (the waxed areas "resist" the dyes). The fabric is allowed to
dry before repeating the process again for each color in the design working
from the lightest color to the darkest.
Care and planning
must be taken with choice of colors because each new color mixes with the
previous colors in the unwaxed areas. Mysterious and almost magical changes
occur when waxed fabrics are dipped into different color baths.
The crackle or
veining that appears in most Batiks is caused when the wax cracks and allows
the dye to penetrate to the fabric. After the final color is applied, the
wax is removed and the piece is ready for presentation.
Toni Spencer Batik Artist
In 2001
Toni Spencer settled in North Idaho after moving up and down the
West Coast with her Coast Guard husband. She had tried many
different art forms before she took a Batik class at the Kodiak,
Alaska Community College in 1981. Batik soon became her primary
focus. Toni draws from everyday subjects that capture her
heart and eye and strives to capture the fun of life with graphic
shapes, bright colors and the typical batik ''crackle". A few
years ago Toni met Richard Taylor, a Professor of Physics at the U
of O, who is doing studies on how "fractals" help reduce stress.
From him, Toni learned that the patterns the "veining"
or ''crackle" form in her batiks are "fractals''. So that
explains why some people find that looking at batiks has a calming
effect.
"I have been experimenting and doing several extra steps
with my batiks this past year.
It's kind of intimidating because I could stop and have
a finished batik; but I've taken
the finished batik, cracked off the wax in certain areas
and gone into another color, then
let it dry, re-wax, re-cracked and dyed again. These
extra steps are repeated until I
get the effect I'm seeking .... or... I've just ruined a
perfectly good batik.
The successful batiks have a bright and happy feeling to
them."
Toni
Contact
Toni or Darrell at 208-659-8921 or visit her website
at
tonispencerbatiks.com
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Grandma's Window
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Original Batik
30" X 32" $725
or
8 X 10 Matted
Photo prints available
Various Size
Giclee's Available.
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Prices begin at $15 for small reproduction prints on paper.
Reproductions on silk are also available.
All prints come matted.
To Purchase
Contact the artist - Thanks! |
