This handmade batik cloth features the traditional floral design of the Miao people. A large red flower occupies the centre of the tablecloth surrounding by eight joined fish.
In Chinese, the word fish has the same pronunciation as the Chinese word for surplus. So the fish became a metaphor for having good fortune year after year. The blooming flowers represent the flourishing fortune, while the combination of fish and flower symbolizes a rich and prosperous life.
Batik is a traditional method of producing colored designs on textiles with dyes, having first applied a wax covering to the parts to be left uncolored. China has been producing batik crafts for over 2000 years, and we are proud to share this tradition with you now.
Genuine batik has no machined substitutes; all of our items are 100% hand-made using a traditional technique. Because the wax cover often cracks slightly during the dye process, some dye will seep through the cracks, forming a unique pattern within the un-dyed area. It is known in China as the Ice Pattern," as it typically looks like the cracks found in ice cubes. These patterns are like fingerprints; no two genuine batik crafts will share the same pattern. If they do, you can be sure that the items are not genuine batik but are printed in factories.
