Java - Yogyakarta 3 (Batik)

One of the things I wanted to learn more about when in Indonesia was batik. A friend of mine, Fidra, had given it a go and it had been fun to hear of her experience. Cycling through Bali and Java we saw people everywhere wear batik day-to-day with casual elegance. I was keen to do a workshop to learn more about how it is created.

Batik is a method of decorating cloth using wax and dye. The wax is drawn or stamped onto the cloth to prevent colour absorption when the cloth is dyed. When the wax is removed it creates a patterned negative.

The most surprising thing I learnt was batik’s real cultural significance in Java. In each phase of a person’s life cycle, batik plays an important role in key rituals.

For example, in a prenatal ceremony held in the seventh month of pregnancy the mother-to-be changes clothes seven times, each with a different batik motif. Each design visually symbolises various hopes/prayers for the baby's well-being, character, and future life.

For weddings particular designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms, and their families, and different motifs are worn during the various stages of the wedding ceremony e.g. the marriage proposal, the procession the night before, the showering ceremony (when the bride and groom are purified of worldly sins), the ceremony itself.

When someone reaches age 64 they wear the batik motif called ‘sida luhur’ celebrating longevity and representing nobleness. In death, the family and mourners wear the ‘slobog’ batik motif. In ancient Javanese society batik motifs also indicated a person's level in society (originally batik was only worn by royalty).

I went along to Batik Winotosastro, a prominent batik workshop and store in Yogyakarta. There I experienced both methods of creating batik - batik cap where the wax is applied to the material using a copper stamp, and batik tulis: applying the wax freeform by hand.

Batik cap is traditionally the work of men. The wax is heated in a shallow pan containing a filter to remove impurities and used as a stamp-pad. Standing behing a padded table, the worker presses the copper block (the cap) on the stamp-pad to absorb the wax then applies the cap onto the white cloth. Patterns on the fabric often require the use of several caps. It is precise work with a skill in knowing when the cap is hot enough and has evenly taken the wax, in lining up the pattern perfectly and consistently, and stamping the cap so just enough wax is applied evenly and with no blotches. The man who showed me how to do it had an extraordinary sense of calm. I was really pleased with my first attempt. Cocky, I glooped on my second.

Batik tulis is traditionally women’s work. The batikers sit in a circle around a metal pan of wax. They dip the canting - the pen-like tool with a small copper bowl and spout - into the wax to fill the bowl, wipe the spout on a piece of cloth on their lap, before applying the hot wax onto the fabric. Cantings have different spouts for varied line thickness. Watching the women at the workshop was wonderful, each woman repeating the same smooth movements hundreds of time a day. I’d read that the strokes of wax liquid were as if writing a strand of prayer, and that there was hope tucked in disguised behind the drawn up motifs. Doing it I could really relate to this sentiment. I found the whole thing a very meditative practice and was immediately in a flow mental state. The rest of the world was on pause and I felt utterly peaceful and in the moment. I could have kept applying wax all day if they’d let me!

Once the fabric is waxed it is dyed in vats. It can go through several dying stages with unwanted wax scraped off different areas each time. Or the fabric can be placed in boiling water to remove all the wax, revealing the final design.Read more