Beach Trading Blog

We’re on a Q&A roll this week so here’s another answer to the questions we get about how our Indonesian batik sarongs are made. This answer is courtesy of Wikipedia.org:

Melted wax, (Javanese: malam), is applied to cloth before being dipped in dye. It is common for people to use a mixture of bees wax and paraffin wax. The bee’s wax will hold to the fabric and the paraffin wax will allow cracking, which is a characteristic of batik. Wherever the wax has seeped through the fabric, the dye will not penetrate. Sometimes several colors are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps.

Thin wax lines are made with a canting needle, (or a tjanting tool), a wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a tiny spout, out of which the wax seeps. Other methods of applying the wax onto the fabric include pouring the liquid wax, painting the wax on with a brush, and applying the hot wax to precarved wooden or metal wire block and stamping the fabric.

After the last dyeing, the fabric is hung up to dry. Then it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colors and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character.

Summer is the perfect time to wrap yourself up or lay yourself on one of our beautiful sarongs. They can be tied into many different styles of clothing, used instead of a beach mat, even used in home decor – the uses of a sarong is only limited by your imagination.