The origins of batik are ancient, everywhere and difficult to trace. No one knows exactly where and when people first began to apply wax, vegetable paste, or even mud to a cloth to resist dye. However it was on the islands of Indonesia that batik emerged as one of the great art forms of Asia. In ancient Hindu Bali the fabric designs typically reflected the Hindu value of man living in harmony with nature. Today our batik designs begin with Princess Mirah's drawings which are influenced by her traditional heritage combined with a modern approach to fabric manufacturing.
In batik wax is carefully applied to cloth with a pen (called a canting) or a stamp (called a cap). The cloth is then immersed in dye. The waxed area on the cloth resists the dye. In the photo below, we are applying a design onto cloth with a cap. The cap, a copper stamp, applies an entire design onto cloth with a single imprint. The cloth is spread on a padded table and the design is applied by dipping the cap in hot wax and stamping it onto the cloth. Small metal pins at the corners of the cap align one cap impression with the next.
If the finished batik fabric is a red flower on a blue ground, the desired design (cap with the flower design) is stamped in wax on white cloth in the areas that will be the red flower. The cloth is then imersed in blue dye and dried. After drying the wax is removed from the cloth by boiling. Because the waxed areas resisted the blue dye, there is now a white flower on a blue ground. To make the flower red, the blue ground is covered with wax and the entire cloth is immersed in red dye. When the wax is removed from the cloth for the second time, a red flower emerges on a blue ground. The above process is repeated over and over as more colors are applied. This continued process of dying, boiling off the wax and drying pre-shrinks the fabric and produces a fabric that is fairly shrink resistant.
After dyeing is competed and the last of the wax has been removed from the cloth, the finished fabric is laid out on the ground to dry. It is then pressed, rolled on flat bords or tubes and shipped to markets over the globe, from Bali Fabrics in Bali, Indonesia to your home.