Cowbright: A Lesson in Batik

Hasan Batik - est. 1980

So today we got to do something that we've talked about for months. Ronnie and I, along with our friends Helen and Mindy (Fulbright scholar in Journalism) took a 3 hour batik class. I won't say that any of us will be getting them framed soon, but it was a fun morning and we learned the basic steps in producing batik.

tools of the trade

First of all, you must know that batik is HUGE in Indonesia. Almost everyone wears it. Truthfully, I've never been a big fan of batik, but I can certainly appreciate the art much more, especially after seeing what is involved. What exactly is batik? It is the art of decorating cloth using both wax and dye. Some of the most beautiful batik cloth in the world is made here in Indonesia. The word batik originates from the Javanese tik which means "to dot."

There are different methods, one done completely by hand (canting) using a tool made of bamboo with a small bit of copper formed to hold the hot wax. This free hand drawing is tedious and time consuming. The other method uses molds which of course goes much faster. But even with molds, there is a definite art to be learned.

Note: Mindy put together a short video of our lesson and gave me permission to use it. The music she used is the angklung, a traditional Javanese instrument made from bamboo.

beautiful pieces hanging to dry

We were each given a piece of white cloth and allowed to choose whatever molds we wanted to use. After we figured out what we wanted to do (pattern wise), one of the workers placed our molds in hot wax and helped us with placement. The wax acts as a relief and prevents the dye from absorbing into the cloth.

Ronnie touching up after first stamping

exact placement is critical!

The next step involves painting the areas that are not waxed. This can be extremely time consuming, depending on the pattern chosen. We were given a limited range of colors to work with. Once painted, the cloth is allowed to dry. When dry, it is dipped into an acid bath where the colors are set. From there it goes into a wash, followed by boiling water where the wax is removed. This is followed by a final rinse. We were all surprised at our results! It looked completely different going in than it did coming out. It was fun to see the process and seeing what is involved certainly increases appreciation for the art of batik.