Batik in Bali

One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Bali was to learn about batik in Indonesia. Well I also was curious because so many people I know and have run into rave about this place and describe it as “magical”.  But back to batik.  For those of you who don't know batik is a process for decorating fabric using layers of wax and dye. I do it once a year with a group of amazing women in Northern CA almost every summer. Sometimes I do it at home as well. I found a course here and took it for five days. I made three batiks and learned some new things my batik friends at home will love. The best part where the teachers, a master artist and his apprentices, one of whom was his son. They were all great teachers, the master a big personality but some how not a big ego. Hanging out in their family compound for most of a week felt like a way to experience Bali and the art that is a part of much of the life style here on a more participatory level. Dave joined me one day and Anika another. Most people only come for a day and they have it down so you can get one batik done in a day. A few other people came other days but much of the time I was alone or it was me and one other person. Needless to say I got a lot of one on one attention. For my batik friends here are some things I learned I will explain further when we see each other:

How to use only bees wax or only paraffin to get greater effects

How to remove boo- boos  (unwanted blobs of wax) with a hot spoon and water (!)

There are dyes you can boil to take out the wax that hold their color.

Stamps are used for any big fabric otherwise the style here is more like painting with water colors and wax. the stamps they use are made out of metal.

Here is picture of one of my batiks at various stages. Two of the batiks I did were based on photos I took on this trip.

This is the main room where we worked. The room is open on one side to the central courtyard of the compound. That is Anika's back on the left.

At work adding color after the initial wax.

One layer of wax and color.

Second layer of wax and more color.

The finished product.