Fraternity-Testvériség, 1961 (39. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1961-03-01 / 3. szám
FRATERNITY o Batik is an ancient art and a fascinating one, especially in light of the fact that it is almost never done by the hands of a fine craftsman anymore. This is easy to understand as the process requires a full laboratory and a great deal of equipment; but Mrs. Bodo produces masterpieces with a makeshift wooden frame and a kitchen stove. She tacks a piece of silk, any size from a scarf to a drapery, to the frame while beeswax is melting on the stove. When the wax is hot enough, she uses a paint brush to apply the first design. Next she mixes a careful recipe of German coloring powder, lukewarm water and sodium nitrate, and into this solution goes the silk for the UNWAXED areas to be dyed. What careful forethought it must take to plan a design in reverse! After the silk has been sloshed around enough to attain the desired shade, she dunks it quickly in and out of a solution of sulfuricacid and water, which sets the color. Next, the silk is rinsed in cold water and hung up to dry; then the whole tedious process is repeated as many times as there are colors. To remove the wax, she uses a cool iron with layers of newspapers underneath and one sheet on top. The last cleaning — which also gives the silk a sheen — is accomplishehd by washing in gasoline. The final product may be a snowflake design, or graceful cranes standing among tall reeds, or stylized modern masks, or even an exquisite madonna mounted and framed as a painting. It is with both pride and humility that Ilona Bodo displays her textiles, that Sándor Bodo displays his paintings, his stamps, his engravings. They are dedicated artists, eager to share and to learn in this strange new country. It would be folly to say that they do not miss their loved ones still behind the iron curtain; but they know they cannot go back, not while the fist of communism still oppresses their people. In the meantime they are studying hard to become American citizens and to rear American children. Neither one speaks English very well, but the language of their talents is international. “There is no force that could bring to the Russian people their overdue independence from centuries-long authoritarian rule and totalitarian tyranny than the freedom and independence of all the captive non-Russian nations in Europe and Asia. Russian freedom and non- Russian independence are necessarily our two correlative objectives.” — Lev E. Dobriansky. We believe our freedom will be secure only when all men everywhere are free. Without this goal peace is never sure — is never just.
