Uses of Batik

Batik is widely used to apparel, home furnishing, canvas, wall hangings, tablecloths, scarves and household accessories.

Batik sarees are very popular in India as well as around the world. Batik paintings by artists grace homes and offices.

Batik Methods

There are different ways to create batik. The splash processes of batik splashes or pours the wax onto the cloth. Stencil is used in screen-printing process of batik. The hand painting is done with the help of a pen filled with wax. Scratch and starch resist is some of the other methods involved in batik painting.

Batik Process

In the batik process, the area where the pattern is to be done is not painted. Instead, wax is applied to the area which has to go pattern-less. The fabric is then immersed in dye. The area, which is wax-free, gets colored. The fabric is dried and then heated to remove the wax from the fabric. The more number of colors the fabric has, the process has to be repeated.

The ancient method of batik process involved drawing on the cloth with a wooden pen and then wax it, known as 'canting'. But with the rise of Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, large copper stamps, or 'caps' was developed, which allowed for large scale application of wax. Previously, batik fabrics and garments were worn by upper class people only but today it is available for general population.

Batik Fabric

Batik is an art that applies specialized method to dye the fabric, commonly cotton or silk. The popular batik patterns are flowers, plants, birds, animals, insects and some of the geometric forms. There are more than 3,000 of such designs or patterns. The invention of computer has added more new and exciting patterns to the existing collections.

The word batik is believed to be originated from the word 'ambatik', meaning 'a cloth with little dots'. 'Tik' also mean little dot, drop, point or to make dots. It is also thought that, batik may have been derived from the Javanese (in Java) word 'tritik' which means a dying process where the patterns are done after tying and sewing the areas. It was similar to tie dye techniques.

True origin of batik is a mystery. Evidence of batik has been found some 2000 years ago in Middle East, India and Central Asia. Batik is most prevalent on the Indonesian Island of Java. The batik of Indonesia is unique and unparalleled.

Today, Malaysia and Indonesia is leading in batik industry. The industry is also thriving in the Philippines, Thailand, Germany, Dutch, China and some of the African countries. The finest batik cloth is still made in Java, Indonesia.