Batik Paintings

Batik is an art of dying cloth in a way that it brings out beautiful, different and vibrant patterns. Batik is an ancient art that  went from Coromandel Coast in India to Southeast Asia becoming the speciality of Java, Indonesia (It reads as it spread out of India, whereas you are saying entered India). It got its name from Javanese words amba meaning to write and titik meaning dot. This unique art of painting on cloth with wax and dye brings vibrant & distinct designs every time.

Batik painting is a unique painting method carried out on a piece of cloth. An ironed piece of cloth – preferably cotton, silk or rayon is used for batik painting. Cotton cloth is considered the  best for batik painting. Beautiful designs and patterns are drawn using pencil which is then covered with boiling wax using a brush or spouted tool called canting.

The pattern is covered with wax from both sides in order to avoid any possibility of colour entering covered area which needs to be kept blank. The cloth is coloured by soaking it a number of times in dyes popularly known as ice or cold dyes. After the desired pattern and colour emerges on cloth, wax is removed by boiling or scraping the cloth but only after cloth has dried. The wax used should be a perfect combination of bees wax and paraffin wax. If the quantity of paraffin wax exceeds, then chances of wax cracking will increase. However, during the process of dying wax cracks leaving out beautiful vein like design on the cloth which is the signature pattern of these paintings.

The wax used is heated properly, not over boiled and is then applied on the cloth leaving beautiful patterns. Although this technique of painting is used in countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Nigeria but Indonesia remains to be its prime hub strattera adhd. It is said that earlier batik was essential for Indonesians to wear on ceremonial occasions and was also used in kebaya which was wore daily dress.

An interesting fact about batik in Indonesia is you can tell the status of the person by the kind of print he/she is wearing as they had different designs reserved. As the designed reserved for royal family was banned for commoners, other than that, there were designs for bride and groom, their families and others. However, batik art aptly suits Indian subjects like dancing and dynamic deities.

This symbolic art of painting takes about three months to complete a 2.5 metre long piece of cloth in order to obtain perfection. Due to diversity of tradition batik is further divided into three different part depending upon their region namely: Batik Solo, Batik Pekalongan and Batik Madura.

Batik is considered to be a little different form of art as compared to other forms of painting as it gives the artist the full liberty to draw his imagination out on the piece of cloth and turn it into an art piece.