Love the bold patterns and saturated colors of Dutch wax fabrics? Make your own eye-catching patterns with this Dutch wax-inspired paper printing technique!
Our favorite DIY inspirations often come from global traditions, Dutch wax fabric being a beautiful case-in-point. With its origins in Javanese batiks and ties to Dutch printing techniques, Dutch wax is beloved in Western Africa—and by print-mixing enthusiasts far and wide—for its audacious colors and bold prints. Though the process of making traditional Dutch wax is laborious, you can pay homage to the plucky patterns with a simple block-printing technique that works on both cloth and paper.
I’ve always been a fan of layered, heavily pigmented patterns, the end results of this Dutch wax-inspired paper printing tutorial that Kayte Terry shared on the Anthropologie Blog are pretty darn impressive.
Though the patterns may look complicated, especially if you’ve never done any paper printing before, the stamping method that’s used to create them is surprisingly beginner-friendly. In the tutorial, Kayte will walk you through the process of creating layered designs with multiple blocks, which will allow you to combine colors and shapes like a printing pro!
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