The pride of Indonesians to wear batik till the present day has preserve this art of textile.
The beauty of Batik is a tribute to the patience, creativity of the woman of Java, the main island of Indonesia. Credit should be also given to men who prepare the cloth and handle the dyeing and finishing process.
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.
Indonesian Batik has a worldwide recognition.
The word "batik" is Indonesian in origin, even if the concept was known by Egyptians and Indians. It is known to be more than a millenium old, and there are evidences that cloth decorated through some form of resist technique was in use in the early centuries AD in several West African, Middle-Eastern and Asian communities.
The word Batik is originally an Idonesian-Malay word and means to dot .This art of textile is spread in the hindu and malay world, but Indonesia is certainly the heart of the Batik.This way of painting and coloring textile has reached its higher degree of excellence in the Island of Java , in cities like Solo, Yogyakarta, Pekalongan or Cirebon. From Java this 'batik' cloth was exported to other islands of the archipelago and to the Malay peninsula.
On the 17th century, the Javanese sultanate of Mataram accorded important ceremonial functions to the Batik clothes. Sultan Agung of Mataram is known to have dressed in white cotton decorated with Indigo blue, and his court dancers wore kain kembangan colored with a red organic dye.
During the past two or three centuries batik has become one of the principal means of expression of the spiritual and cultural values of Southeast Asia.
Painting on clothes
The art of "batiking" is similar to the one of drawing or painting on a piece of cloth.
Finely detailed designs are first drawn freehand with a pencil on the textile. Then hot liquid wax is applied. Here above, a Javanese woman applying wax in the intricately involved patterns with a canting (tjanting), a small copper container with a long slender spout. From time to time she blows on the tip of the canting to secure an easy flow of the wax. Areas not slated for coloring are filed with the wax. The cloth is then passed through a vat of dye. The wax is removed with hot water, scraped from the portions of the dried material still to be dyed. The parts that were covered by the wax did not absorb the dye and thus remain white (or whatever color the original cloth was previously dyied). Since the wax behave as a resisting medium, this process is called resist-dye process. Next, other areas are waxed over. this is repeated during each phase of the coloring process, up to four or more times, until the overall pattern and effect are achieved.
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 Cantings of several shapes. | A canting with more than a spout (it can be up to seven) is used for patterns with dot forms. Basically, as an art, batiking is painting. The canting is used to produce the picture; its size depending on the type and degree of fineness of the lines or points desired |
A traditional recipe for batik wax is a mix of beeswax and paraffin, about 60%/40%. Beeswax is soft, pliable, and blocks completely: no cracking. Paraffin is more brittle, and lets dye penetrate wherever cracks form. Crackle is a characteristic batik effect, a scatter of thin dark wavy lines, a batik hallmark. Some dyers seek crackle, freezing and crumpling the cloth to make more. Others avoid, if they can, any effect that seems uncontrolled. For more crackle, more paraffin. Any clean, low-oil paraffin, melting from 130 - 150° F will work. Beeswax should be light yellow or tan and clear of debris. But most batik today is done with synthetic micro-crystalline waxes. They’re more consistent, more often reusable, penetrate better, can be heated (safely) to higher temperatures. They usually fall between beeswax and paraffin in price and in working properties. They can be blended with other waxes for intermediate effects.
On the eastern routes
Because of Indonesia's location on the trade route between North and South as well as from West to East, the North coast of Java was often visited by foreign vessels.
It results in a lively exchange of a variety of goods including ceramics and silks from China and the cinde or silk with the patola motif from the west of India.The foreign art and culture were absorbed and fused with the existing javanese one, resulting in new works of art with their unique beauty. Merchants from all over the world came to the Indonesian archipelago: Chinese, Indians, Portuguese, Arabs, Dutch, and British.
Painting of an Arab merchants vessel.
Main kinds of designs
Althought Central Java is the centre of Javanese Batik, the design evolves according to the part of the region where it is manufactured. We are introducing the different kind of designs which are related to the usage in the day-to-day life as well as in the celebrations and finaly their characteristics by location as Yogyakarta, Surakarta or Solo, Pekalongan and Indramaju.
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Solo ( now named Surakarta) was one of the two sultanates, with all the traditions and customs of their courts, and the center of Hindu-Javanese culture.
The Kraton (or court) was not only the residence of the kings, but also the center of government, religion and culture.this was reflected in the art of the region, especially in its batiks: in the motifs as well as in the colors, and its special rules governing the wearing of batik. In solo there were special rules about wearing batik. These had to do with- the social position of the wearer
- the occasion on which the batik was worn or used, in connection with the meaning and hope or wish symbolized by the motif.
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The motifs of the Solo design are related to the Hindu-Javanese culture: the Sawat symbol of the crown or highest power, the Meru symbol of mountain or earth, the Naga symbol of the water, the Burung symbol of the wind or upper world and the Lidah Api symbol of the fire.
In Solo there were special rules about wearing of batik. 1) the social position of the wearer, 2) the occasion on which the batik was worn or used. This was in connection with the meaning and hope or wish symbolized by the motif.
 Batik Sawat or Lar |  Batik Naga |
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Batik: Indramayu design
Dara Kipu
The neighbouring area of Indramayu is a fishing community and was an important harbour on the north coast of Java often called at by foreign ships as well as vessels plying between the islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
Batiking was done by by the wives of fishermen from the villages around Indramayu. They batiked when their husbands were away at sea, in order to supplement their incomes.
For this reason they did not wish to make batik that would take too much time to complete. They used a large canting on plain cloth, and had hardly any filling on their batiks.
To fill the empty space, they made cocohan (tiny dots) with an ustensil called the complongan shaped like a comb with fine needles used to penetrate the cloth already covered with wax. After deying, the dots take on the color of the dye. In its simplicity Dermayon batik has its own special attraction
Gaggeng (left) . Jarot Asem (right)
Motifs of batik made in fishing villages are greatly influenced by the flora and the fauna of the surrounding are, for example Jarot Asem (Javanese Tamarind), Dara Kipu or by the sea such as Gaggeng and Urang Ayu. These are all motifs of the coarse and cheaper batik made for common people.
Urang Ayu
To conclude, for the time being, these are two others examples of colorful batik clothes.
Enjoy !!
Full Credit : discover-indo.tierranet.com
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