• Introduction •

I have been in love with Batik since I first visited Java many years ago. I was still young then and didn't want to be in a long distance relationship, so I tried to focus my attention elsewhere but true love never dies. So last year I went to go study batik in Bali, Indonesia.

Although I knew that Java is in fact the heartland and center of production of all forms of Batik, I decided to go study in neighboring Bali where I had never been. Here is a 1 minute stop motion animation of a procession in Bali which I made just to get you all in the mood.(notice all the batik sarongs!)

• Batik School •

I was delighted to find such a beautiful campus filled with sculptural details the likes I had never seen. There were however some student protests and renovations going on when we first arrived (which delayed the start of the batik classes) but soon enough we were melting wax and learning patterns.
They say that we cannot escape our fate so, as luck would have it one of my neighbors was a batik fanatic and so I was able to begin learning the basics of this craft even before starting classes at school. We formed a small group who would meet twice a week as a supplement to the more formal classroom setting, and so I was again reunited with my love as if no time had passed.

• Batik Group •

When I say that my neighbor was a Batik fanatic I mean that in the best sense of the term. Master Miki is so dedicated to propagating the art of Batik, that he not only produces many beautiful Batik paintings himself but is a avid teacher offering courses to anyone who is at all interested.

Miki became the guru for our Batik group which we named "Asing Sing Anai" which in Javanese means "strange foreigners" but in Balinese means "strange but not foreign"...they like word play a lot there so I felt very clever for coming up with a pun in two languages at once..

Although our courses were very informal our Guru (teacher) was very dedicated and encouraged us to continue with the plan of an exhibition to take place in a few months time. As you may know it is very hot in Indonesia and sitting next to a small gas burning stove dipping into the hot wax was not always an appealing thought. What I found was that, given that it was so hot - what better way to wile away the hours in the shade than by concentrating on drawing with liquid wax.

• Jagir Art Show •

Months passed in this way...alternately experimenting in this informal setting and learning the more traditional patterns at school until our works were completed and it was time to share this love with the world. The exhibition took place in Miki's home town of Surabaya (East Java) in what we would call an underprivileged neighborhood. This was were Miki had grown up and so he wanted to bring some art to an area which normally has no such privilege. The week long art show was designed to make art accessible in every sense of the word.
Along with affordable art works by over 50 artistes and performances every evening, he also organized a number of free workshops.

When Miki told his neighbors that he had been teaching Batik to foreigners who would be exhibiting, 20 women immediately signed up to learn how to Batik and made pillow cases which could eventually be sold. Although Batik is still practiced all over Java, Surabaya is an industrialized town which has largely forgotten its crafty past. The art show was in its second year and was a great success with coverage in the mass media and judging by the interest shown by all kinds of people it should continue to grow in the coming years...so if you find yourself in Surabaya and have already checked out the weekly shadow puppet plays ...you know where to go (Mahotsawa Salakasa Karya Jagir).

The Batik hanging behind the chess players was made by my guru and his Batik group "Gundurukum, and is 12 feet long!

• Wayang Kulit and Batik •

Mystical Javanese shadow puppets are probably even older than Batik and very much part of the religious and cultural life of the Javanese. Some say these performances date back to prehistoric initiation rituals. It is also said that the original motifs for Batik were borrowed from the puppets themselves.

In order to cast shadows which are not simply silhouettes, the puppets are perforated into various patterns. They say that way back when, women would obtain these puppets in order to blow soot through these perforations leaving the pattern on the white cloth which could then be waxed.

Here is a brief video to give you an idea about what a Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet) show looks like. This was shot in Surabaya on Saturday night after the art show performances were done.

Wayang Golek (wooden puupets) also like to wear batik as seen in the foto above.

• Cara ngebatik or How to batiking •

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.

• Batik Cap (stamp) •

Another way to speed up the process of applying the wax is by using a cap or copper stamp. This is still considered traditional although it was only introduced in the 1800s when the demand for batik was growing rapidly.

You dip the stamp into hot wax and then stamp it onto the cloth repeatedly to create a motif. The use of the cap allows traditional motifs to be produced much faster than the canting technique.

As we can see in the picture here, if the stamps are not lined up then the motif is interupted. Batik cap (stamp) are made using both chemical and or natural dyes. Printed "batik" is now produced industrially but the motif only appears on one side of the cloth (because it has been printed).