Androsia is a type of

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

produced by the Androsia

Batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...

Factory on

Andros Island Andros Island is an archipelago within the Bahamas, the largest of the Bahamian Islands. Politically considered a single island, Andros in total has an area greater than all the other 700 Bahamian islands combined. The land area of Andros consis ...

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

. It is handmade and has been manufactured on Andros since 1973 by Bahamians. This type of fabric is considered one of Andros' national treasures and won the Silver Jubilee award in 1998.

Creation

Stencils are created from locally harvested

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

s and fashioned into the whimsical shapes Androsia is famous for. Typically these are shapes organic in nature, for example conch shells, hibiscus flowers, and native

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

heads. The stencils are dipped in heated wax and then hand pressed onto the fabric. The fabric is next soaked in dye long enough for the fabric to absorb the color. Typically Androsia is brightly colored, with hot pink and purple being two very common colors. During the dying process the wax prevents the dye from adhering to the fabric. These patches of white retain the shape of the stencils. Finally the cloth is boiled to remove the wax.

Uses

Androsia is then cut into various items of batik clothing such as dresses, shirts for men and women, skirts, pareos, tank tops,

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

s, shorts, and accessories. Androsia is also used in some furniture and in other household goods, or is sold by the yard for dressmaking, quilting, and craft projects.

Photographs

Image:KatsuWax_4x6.jpg, Androsia Batik Wax Room Image:ManConchShell.jpg, Man in olive Androsia blowing conch shell Image:WomenPurple.jpg, Woman in purple Androsia looking at the ocean

External links

Androsia Batik Factory manufacturing on Andros since 1973Online Catalog for the Androsia Batik Factory
{{fabric Printed fabrics Bahamian culture