Colourful Gifts

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 24, 28 December 1928, Page 12

Colourful Gifts

HERE is always a specially warm feeling of gratitude within us for a present that we know has been fashioned at the hands of the giver. It gives one a delightfully happy feeling to know that precious hours have been spent on some trifle. There is an intimate touch about such a present that an expensive gift, bought an hour before the presentation never achieves. Most women are gifted with deft fingers and a highly developed colour sense. They can, at a very moderate cost, make in their spare time delightfully original Christmas gifts, Briefly, the process consists of sketching a design on some suitable material, white crepe de chine for instance, covering the parts not to be coloured with a certain pleasantly scented wax and dyeing the rest. Both the wax and the proper batik dyes can be obtained for a few pence. This craft has long been practised in Java, where it originated; centuries of practice have evolved many beauti-. ful traditional designs introducing a great number .of colours in a beautifully soft effect. There is no limit to the number of colours you may use provided you remember to wax the parts not to be affected by the colour you are actually using, unless you intend the colours to run into each other to give a blurred effect to the edges. After the dyeing process is completed the wax is easily removed by the ap-

plication of a fairly hot iron to the material, which must be placed between sheets of clean blotting paper; these absorb the wax and must be renewed until all the wax has disappearect. Any lingering traces can then be re. moved with a rag dipped in petrol. There are two methods of applying the dye. One is by brushing the colour on the material stretched on a frame, using a soft brush and diluting the eolours with water as may be necessary to produce the tint required. After the dyeing is completed, rinse the material in cold water and allow to dry. By the other, the dipping process, the dyes are prepared in bowls and the material dipped in each for a few minutes, then rinsed thoroughly to get rid of any superfiuous dye. . If the dipping process is used great care must be taken to wax the parts of the material not to be coloured, whether those parts have already been coloured or not. Before applying fresh wax the material must be perfectly dry, otherwise it will not protect the surface.