author

Ida Strawn Baker

1876–1962

A craft writer from the early 20th century, she is best known for helping bring batik and textile dyeing techniques to a wider audience. Her surviving work has a practical, teacher-friendly spirit that still feels clear and usable today.

1 Audiobook

Batik and other pattern dyeing

Batik and other pattern dyeing

by Walter Davis Baker, Ida Strawn Baker

About the author

Ida Strawn Baker was an American coauthor of Batik and Other Pattern Dyeing, a 1920 book on textile decoration and dyeing techniques. The title page identifies her alongside Walter Davis Baker and places them with the Waldcraft Studios in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The book reflects a hands-on approach to art education, focusing on batik, wax-resist processes, stencil and block printing, and related fabric-dyeing methods. That makes her part of an early wave of writers who helped translate studio craft knowledge into practical instruction for students, teachers, and home makers.

Little biographical information about her was readily confirmed from the sources I found, so the clearest picture comes through her work itself: a collaborative author interested in useful design, applied art, and textile craft.