2 main kinds

Batik cap adalah cap motif batik yang distempel ke sebuah batik agar batik tersebut mempunyai motif yang sama dan seimbang.

Batik tulis adalah batik yang ditulis dan digambar sendiri. Motifnya berkemungkinan besar tidak seimbang dalam bentuk maupun soal jarak motif.

Batik adalah singkatan dari 'baris dan titik.'

How to Make Batik??

1. We draw a pattern in a cloth with pencil. Either you copy a pattern or trace the pattern.

2. Light the fire in the stove, put a malam in a small pan and wait until it melts.

3. Fill the canting with some melted malam and trace the pattern that you’ve made in the cloth. Trace on both sides of cloth and let it dries.

4. (You don’t have to.) Paint the outline of your cloth with paraffin, but don’t paint your pattern with it.

5. Dip your cloth to the water, then to the liquid that won’t make your wax washed out and in the end, to the wax paint with the color that you want. Dip it in order.

6. Let it dries and you can do it again to make batik with various colors.

Question of the Month

What do you think about batik?

Do you like batik? Why?

What do you think is special about batik?

How do you feel when another country tries to claim batik as theirs?

What’s your effort to conserve batik?

Main Kinds of Batik

*JAVANESE KRATON BATIK- oldest batik known in Java. It has dark earthy colours, but sometimes with white background. There are some restricted of motifs, ex. large motifs can only be worn by royalty.


*PESISIR BATIK- produced and created by several areas on the northern coast of Java and on Madura. Its tradition was more open to foreign influences in textile, design, colouring and motifs. It utilizes vivid colours and Chinese motifs such as clouds, phoenix, dragon, qilin, lotus, peony and floral patterns.

*JAVA- proposed to identify various batik cloths produced in “Piriangan” region. Traditionally this type of batik is produced by Sudanese people in several district of West Java. The motifs of “Piriangan” batik are visually naturalistic and strongly impressed by flora and fauna.

*BALI- influenced by neighbouring Javanese Batik and is relatively recent compared to the latter. Balinese batik is characterized by bright and vibrant colours, which tie dye technique blends into a smooth gradation of colour with many shades.

History of Batik

Although experts disagree as to the precise origins of batik, samples of dye resistance patterns on cloth can be traced back 1,500 years ago to Egypt and the Middle East. Samples have also been found in Turkey, India, China, Japan and West Africa from past centuries. Although in these countries people were using the technique of dye resisting decoration, within the textile realm, none have developed batik to its present day art form as the highly developed intricate batik found on the island of Java in Indonesia.
Although there is mention of 'fabrics highly decorated' in Dutch transcripts from the 17th century, most scholars believe that the intricate Javanese batik designs would only have been possible after the importation of finely woven imported cloth, which was first imported to Indonesia from India around the 1800s and afterwards from Europe beginning in 1815. Textile patterns can be seen on stone statues that are carved on the walls of ancient Javanese temples such as Prambanan (AD 800), however there is no conclusive evidence that the cloth is batik. It could possibly be a pattern that was produced with weaving techniques and not dying. What is clear is that in the 19th century batik became highly developed and was well ingrained in Javanese cultural life.
Some experts feel that batik was originally reserved as an art form for Javanese royalty. Certainly its royal nature was clear as certain patterns were reserved to be worn only by royalty from the Sultan's palace. Princesses and noble women may have provided the inspiration for the highly refined design sense evident in traditional patterns. It is highly unlikely though that they would be involved in any more than the first wax application. Most likely, the messy work of dyeing and subsequent waxings was left to court artisans who would work under their supervision.
Javanese royalty were known to be great patrons of the arts and provided the support necessary to develop many art forms, such as silver ornamentation, wayang kulit (leather puppets) and gamelan orchestras. In some cases the art forms overlap. The Javanese dalang (puppeteer) not only was responsible for the wayang puppets but was also an important source of batik patterns. Wayang puppets are usually made of goat skin, which is then perforated and painted to create the illusion of clothing on the puppet. Used puppets were often sold to eager ladies who used the puppets as guides for their batik patterns. They would blow charcoal through the holes that define the patterns of clothing on the puppets, in order to copy the intricate designs onto the cloth.
Other scholars disagree that batik was only reserved as an art form for royalty, as they also feel its use was prevalent with the rakyat, the people. It was regarded an important part of a young ladies accomplishment that she be capable of handling a canting (the pen-like instrument used to apply wax to the cloth) with a reasonable amount of skill, certainly as important as cookery and other housewifery arts to Central Javanese women.