Batik Batik is one of Java's famous and highly developed art traditions, together with wayang (shadow puppets), gamelan (Javanese orchestra) and keris (the dagger - heirloom).
Anywhere, batik designed materials are clearly seen as women traditional dresses, shirts, uniforms, sarongs, bags, hats, table-cloths, napkins, painting and decorative items, etc, with traditional color of brown, indigo and blue or more colorful ones.
Nowadays, batik is an important industry in many production centers in Java. It is a proof that the people of Java do love the products, long time ago created by their ancestors.
The Process of Batik Making Batik, in Javanese means ' To Dot '. Basically there are two kinds of batik; Batik Tulis (hand drawn) and Batik Cap (stamped).
The price of batik tulis is much more expensive than batik cap. Doting A canting (a pen like instrument with a small reservoir of liquid wax) is applied to the cloth of batik tulis making. The tracing of the desired design on to the prepared cloth is the first stage of making followed by the technique of applying wax and dye substances. At the final stage of the process, all the wax scraped off and the cloth boiled to remove all traces of the wax. This process of repeatedly waxing and dyeing is the batik process, used until nowadays in Java and other parts of Indonesia. So, this kind art of batik is an indigenous to the country.
The wax used in batik process is a combined product of paraffin, bees-wax, plant resins called gondorukem and mata kucing . Batik cap, which is also using the waxing process, its process of course faster and easier.
But people appreciation of batik tulis is higher, it is really a work of an artist not only a craftsman. It combines the expertise, patience, deep feeling to produce the finest product, and it may take days, weeks and even months to make only a batik tulis.
