Because of the abundance of a variety of naturally occurring resin’s, that are used to increase the pliability and resilience of the beeswax, the Javanese have developed a number of resists (see photo 2), that allows them to create an incredible array of effects and textures.

The understanding of colour and the composition of dyes is an art in itself, and the dyeing process is critical to the success of a quality batik.

The first batik dyes were made from materials found naturally in the local environment. Roots, Leaves and barks were boiled together to draw out and develop the colours, in fact, in our collection we have work from the artist Djakaria born 1933, who still uses natural dyes in his paintings to this day.

We hope you enjoy our gallery.

Batik refers to a process, and the finished painting.

A Batik painting is made by applying hot, liquid wax to a cloth with a Canting (waxing pen), then dyeing the cloth. The wax resists the dye, maintaining the colour underneath. Layers of wax and dye are built up and the wax is finally removed by boiling to reveal the finished painting. See process.

A distinctive characteristic of Javanese batik is the use of a Canting. (see photo 1)

The Canting consists of a hollow vessel made of brass or copper to which a spout is attached that allows hot liquid wax to flow onto the cloth. Like the nib of a fountain pen, this curved spout, or spouts – sometimes as many as six spouts are attached to the scoop – may vary greatly in size depending on the fineness of line/dot to be drawn with it. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the Canting came into existence. It seems logical that necessity, the mother of invention, provided this exquisite tool when a demand for fine textiles arose.

Wajan Container that holds the melted wax.

We would like to thank Pak Aprat for his gift of this antique example.