Batik refers to both the process of dying cloth as well as the finished cloth. It is a process for applying hot wax onto cloth for the purpose of resisting dye. The wax can be applied using a paintbrush, a canting tool or with a copper stamp.
Types of batik are determined by the way in which the wax has been applied as well as the distinction between natural (plant, mineral or animal) and chemical dyes (extractions of extractions). The longer the process required, the more valuable is the cloth.
Although the techniques for fixing natural dyes has radically improved in the last few decades, they still require the cloth to be soaked more than once. Chemical dyes have the advantage of being widely produced (cheaper) as ready to use powders requiring sometimes nothing more than to be painted onto the cloth (faster) despite their hazardous effects.
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