BATIK

Batik, among the oldest of Javanese arts, is now a national treasure of Indonesia and is used throughout the country. The age of all method of dying cloth painted in pattern with the aid of molten wax, accumulated over centuries did the beautiful designs.

Traditionally, batik cloth was designed in shades of indigo blue, brown and white, produced with natural vegetable dyes. The molten wax was painted on with a hollow, pointed canting-a small copper pen- then dipped into dye. Dyed and dried, wax was again applied to cover the colored patterns, and dipped again in another dye. The process was repeated as many times as needed to achieve the colors of design. Between the steps of dying, the wax was scrapped off and applied again in the already colored areas.

The traditional batik designs include geometric pattern, birds, flowers and endless number of little pattern. Batik made in Yogyakarta and Surakarta(Solo) usually retain a traditional look and are often super quality. For this reason, they are often worn only as ceremonial dress on social occasions. The batik cloth of Cirebon shows the same classic color preference as those of Yogya and Solo but shows a strong Chinese influence, notable in particular in its rocks and cloud patterns. Another area knows for batik is Pekalongan noted for its bright contemporary and straight forward design.

The making of hand-painted batik is along process which often took months to finish. This was one of the reason why the wearing of fine batik cloth was in the past limited to members of the social elite. The stamping method of batik production invented decades ago has made reasonably good batik affordable to the average Indonesian. The pattern's outline is produce by pressing the copper stamp which has first been dipped in molten wax - onto the cloth. The process is repeated until the whole cloth is covered. the product is then finished by covering the parts to be left white with wax applied by hand, folled by dying in the usual manner.

Stamped-on batik has made great strides in the past decades. The hand-painted variety, however, is still considered the queen of the art. Fine all items are now days rare and demand high price as they are much sought after by the collectors, both Indonesian and foreign.

Batik attains its deed patine only after long wear and it therefore not surprising that old cloths are often valued even higher than brand new products by knowledgeable collectors.