The fabrics used for drawing batik are generally white soil cloth woven by the folk, but there are also woven white cloth, cotton silk and poplin. The anti-staining agent is mainly yellow wax (that is, beeswax), sometimes mixed with white wax. Beeswax is a secretion from the abdominal wax glands of bees that is insoluble in water but can be melted when heated. It is to use this characteristic of it as a resist for batik. The dye used is indigo produced in Guizhou. Guizhou is rich in bluegrass, which is a Polygonum plant with a stem of about two or three feet high. It blooms in July and is harvested in August. Put bluegrass leaves in the pit to ferment to become blue indigo. There are dye houses that use indigo as a dye in rural markets in Guizhou, but some buy indigo and dye them in a dye vat.
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