Even though its exact history is uncertain, fragments of batik’s projected origin dates back to the first century where it was discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs.  Because fabrics tend to disintegrate from time and weather, a more exact history of textiles tends to be sketchy. Evidence of early batik has also been found all over the Middle East, in India, Central Asia and Africa. By the nineteenth century, after the importation of more finely woven cloth from India and Europe, it became a highly accomplished art form in Indonesia.

The word batik seems to come from an Indonesian word 'ambatik', a cloth with little dots. In the seventeenth century, as the world grew smaller, batiking was introduced to Holland and other parts of Europe. In the early 1900s, batik fabrics became very fashionable in Germany. Later on, Europeans and Americans traveling and living in the East rediscovered the ancient process and brought it back to their homelands.

Today, art schools across the United States offer batik courses as part of their textile curricula.

The basic tools for batik include cotton, silk or linen fabric, dyes, hot wax, brushes and tools such as the tjanting and tjap. The former is used for stamping a design on the fabric, the latter for drawing with hot wax.

Since batik is a resist dyeing process, designs on the areas of the fabric which are meant to be protected are covered with hot liquid wax. The wax penetrates the fabric.  This forms a barrier or “resist.” The first areas to be protected are the whites of the fabric. The entire piece is then immersed in a dye bath, allowed to set, rinsed, and allowed to dry.  The waxing and dyeing steps are repeated until the desired effect is achieved. It is important that the dye bath colors go from light to dark.  When completed, the wax is removed via ironing between layers of clean newsprint, boiled out or dry cleaned.

This technique can also be used on wood, ceramics and paper.

Suggested books to learn more about the process range from Dona Meilach’s CONTEMPORARY BATIK AND TIE-DYE (1973) to Rosi Robinson’s CREATIVE BATIK (2001).  These and others can be found on www.amazon.com