Indonesian Batik- Material and Tools

Hello everyone,

Today I will be discussing about different material and tools that Indonesian Batik uses. Well, as I said before Batik is a wax resist technique. It uses beeswax or paraffin as wax ;canting tool, cooper stamps (also called a cap) or brushes are used to apply wax and it is best done on cotton and silk cloth which are quite thick.

Canting tool

Cooper block stamp\ C

Canting tool: Body canting is the wax reservoir it is the place where hot wax is kept(you can take it as a refill of a pen); Beak is the place from where the wax comes out from (you can take it as a tip of the pen)and handle is of course, the place where you hold it. Canting tool was found in Java.

Wajan

Cooper block Stamp: It is made of 1.5 cm wide cooper stripsthat is bent into the shape of a motif small piece of wired is added to the stamp to give it more details. When it is properly shaped it is attached to a handle. It helps in applying wax.Firstly you have to apply wax on the stamp and then you have to stamp it on a cloth and as you can see it does a 2 hrs work in 5 mins. These stamps were found in Dutch or China.

Wajan: Wajan is a container that holds wax. Normally it is made of iron or Earthen ware. It is normally placed over a brick, charcoal or a spirit burner called 'anglo'.


Wax: Indonesian Batik  uses different types of wax. Commonly used wax are beeswax and Paraffin Wax. Resins and animal fats are supposed to be added in it. It is said that the best waxes are from the Indonesian Islands of Timor, Sumbava and Sumata. Petroleum based Paraffin wax comes in white, yellow and black colour.

 I will write about the procedure of batik in Indonesia in my next blog.

References:

Behance (no date) Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/47738987/Indonesian-Batik (Accessed: 18 January 2017).

http://www.senikraf.com/cat_batik.htm (Accessed: 18 January 2017).