All You Need To Know About Batik

Batik is a technique for decorating textiles, by which parts of the textile that are not to be coloured are covered in molten wax. The wax prevents the textile from absorbing the dye during the decorating process.

The word batik is of Indonesian origin, and is related to a Malay word for dot or point, "titik" and the Javanese word "amba", meaning ”to write”.

The technique of covering or ’reserving’ parts of a textile with some paste or liquid material in order to create a pattern has been found in many different parts of the world. Theories about the origin of the technique are uncertain. It is known from India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Turkestan, and West Africa.

Since the 16th century the art of batik has been documented in the Malay Archipelago, and particularly in Java the art was developed to a very high standard.

When the Javanese invented the canting, a small utensil for tracing lines with wax, they managed to create the finest handdrawn textiles called tulis (tulis translates directly to write).

In the 20th century the invention of the copper block, cap, was developed by the Javanese. This tool revolutionised batik production, as it became possible to make high quality designs and intricate patterns much faster than one could possibly do by hand-painting.

The origin of batik production in Malaysia is not easy to trace. However, it is known for certain that the Javanese influenced Malay batik-making technically as well as in the development of designs. At an early stage the Malaysians used wooden blocks in order to produce batik-like textiles. As late as the 1920s Javanese batik makers introduced the use of wax and copper blocks on the East Coast.

The production of handdrawn batik in Malaysia is of recent date and is related to the Javanese batek tulis. Commercial production started in the 1960s. This craft has developed its own particular aesthetic and design, peculiar to Malaysia. The new Malaysian batik is clearly different from the Javanese tradition of hand-painted batiks.