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Batik is generally thought of as the most
quintessentially Indonesian textile. Motifs of flowers,
twinning plants, leaves buds, flowers, birds, butterflies,
fish, insects and geometric forms are rich in symbolic
association and variety; there are about three thousand
recorded batik patterns.
The very act of creating batik
has strong symbolic meaning
for the Javanese. According to
the Indonesian tradition, each
time the batik artisan executes
a particular intricate pattern,
the design is not only fixed to
the cloth, but the meaning of
the design is engraved ever
more deeply in the soul of the
artisan.
In the Kraton, or Javanese court,
batik was one of the six priyayi,
"high arts" studied by the
cultured Javanese gentry. Batik,
along with music and dance, was
considered to be a way to
develop spiritual discipline.
The essence of the batik
process is to produce a
design on textiles through
the use of a dye-resist.
The resist, usually wax
(but other materials such
as rice paste are also
employed), prevents the
dye from penetrating the
covered areas of the
fabric, thus creating a
pattern in negative.
Additional wax is added to
embellish the design or
preserve areas in the color of
the initial dye bath. The cloth is
then dipped in a second dye
bath. This process is repeated a
number of times depending on
the number of dyes involved.
Producing a high quality piece
of batik fabric is time
consuming and requires a high
degree of skill.
Batik workers sit on low
stools with the cloth
they are working on
draped over a
bamboo frame called
gawanagan. Next to
them is a simple
kerosene stove with a
small iron wok called
wajan, which is filled
with molten wax.
The main elements of the design are usually penciled
onto the fabric, but many of the details are added
freehand. Very experienced artisans can wax designs,
using a tjanting (pronounced "canting") directly to the
cloth from memory.