Pieter Mijer

“ Batik is not difficult, the chief requirements are care and time, and the best results are always gotten by giving time to the work and not trying to do it in a rush. As with any other art or craft, one needs to study the medium before using it and another fact that has only been too often forgotten, is, that batik has design and knowledge of colour as its foundation and I would like to advise readers who have not studied these essentials, to leave batik alone until they have acquired some understanding of them. ”

“ A good plan is to keep a strict eye on the wax in any case, in order to prevent surprise attacks by dye on the material through places that have become weakened. Naturally the wax is likely to suffer when the fabric has to be handled as much as it has to be, when being dyed a number of colours.
Some people, when they wish to have opposing colours, such as blue and red, in the same design, resort to the native method of removing the wax entirely after each dipping and re-covering the parts already dyed. ”

“ The moment we try to commercialize it, that is, to make the same design in quantities, the quality decreases; a great deal of the beauty of a batik lies in the personal touch of the artist or craftsman who makes it, and we may safely say that neither of them is able to do machine work and produce a practically unlimited quantity in a short time. ”

“ When dyeing a batik with one colour over the other, the second colour dyed will always be affected by the tone of the first dipping; for instance, suppose your material is dyed yellow the first time, and blue the second, the fabric will not come out as a true blue, but according to the strength of the blue dye, will be either light green, green blue, or if an intense blue has been used, a blue-green will result. ”

“ And this is another good thing to remember in making a multi-coloured batik which is to have white as part of the colour arrangement. It is always advisable to dye the original white of the fabric some very pale shade, either grey, light tan, pale blue or even pink. If the material is used in its original pure white state, a pleasing effect will never result, as the white [75] will always stand out as a glaring hard spot when it is next to colours that are dyed over each other and consequently blend harmoniously. ”

“ One of the chief helps in successful dyeing is a good vessel for use as a dye-bath. If one is possibly obtainable, the best thing to use is a seamless copper tub. This utensil, however, is not within the reach of every student and it is quite possible to do satisfactory work in a good agate or enamel pan. Galvanized iron is safe to use with most dyes, but in time the acid used with some colours will eat into the metal. Be sure to get a big enough vessel as disaster follows goods that are crowded in the dye-bath. ”

“ One part paraffin to five parts of bees-wax will give the consistency of medium to produce the crackle surface so popular with many artists in America. Pure bees-wax cracks very little and will stand the highest temperature when in the dye-bath, and inversely the larger proportion of paraffin used the more the medium will crackle and the cooler the dye-bath must be used if one does not want one’s design to melt away. When no crackle at all is desired, the solution can be made more [38] pliable by the addition of rosin. ”

“ It does not do to take a chance on having a drop of wax fall on the work as it is next to impossible to remove it entirely. Some people hold their tjanting directly over a flame to re-heat cooling wax, but it is a very unwise practice as there is a grave danger of hurting the spout and a likelihood of the wax becoming charred. If the wax does get too cold to work with, or the spout gets stopped up with chilled wax, hold the bowl of the tjanting in the hot wax in the melting pot and it will be found that the trouble is remedied instantly. ”

“ After dipping, the material should be rinsed thoroughly in luke-warm water. Avoid the use of cold water, especially when another dyeing is to follow, as the cold will cause the wax to become brittle and crack, and unintentional crackling is a sign of poor craftsmanship. If the batik is to be in only one colour it is now ready for the removal of the wax, which is a simple business, consisting of rinsing the fabric very thoroughly in gasoline or Carbona. ”

“ Those from Djocdja and Solo are executed in rich tans, beautiful golden browns and deep indigo blue, which colours are used on the royal batiks; the work from these districts is sombre in tone but very rich in design. Pekalongan batiks are usually in white and different shades of blue, or rather cream and blue, for the native treats his fabric with oil before starting to work and this gives a rich creamy tone to the white. Dead white itself is never used as it is literally associated with the dead, being the colour of grave cloths and always signifying death. ”

“ Aniline dyes are used chiefly and occasionally acids which produce colour by their action on each other, are employed. Vegetable dyes are popular in Holland on account of their permanence, the Dutch being almost as particular about the durability of their work as the Javanese. This is natural when one remembers that, there, the batik art is considered in the same light as painting and sculpture, and frequent exhibitions are held for a public whose attitude toward the craft is very different to that of many Americans, who do not yet appreciate the art as an art. ”

“ Besides the batik done entirely by hand, the native produces a decorated material known as “tjap.” This method can best be compared to block printing, the wax being printed on to the material instead of being applied with a tjanting. Instead of the wooden block associated with block printing, the native uses a sort of die made of wood, on which the design is made by the insertion, edgewise, of thin strips of brass or red copper; in some cases the whole die is made of the red copper. ”

“ When not in use the safest plan is to hang it in a box of its own or at least keep it in a place sacred to itself, with its spout upwards, so that there is no likelihood of accidental pressure to bend it out of shape. This careful handling of the tjanting is emphasized because, while the initial cost of a good instrument may seem high, it is a most satisfactory tool to use and with proper attention it should last a life-time. One that is in use today has been used steadily for the past twelve years and looks good for holding many more pints of melted wax. ”

“ Another drawback is, that not only are the colours inharmonious, but the moment you try to paint in any large surface, that is, any area bigger than a square inch, the colour is always uneven; this is because the moment the silk is touched with the brush, that individual spot gets the full strength of the dye, which fades out toward the edges and no matter how much patching up is done, it is impossible to get a perfectly even surface such as can be obtained by dipping. ”

“ The American method of working differs from the Javanese in the fact that the native hangs her material vertically in front of her when she is waxing her design, whilst the American is decidedly more comfortable with his material flat on a table. Usually it is stretched on a frame or canvas-stretcher to prevent it from coming in actual contact with the surface of the table whilst the wax is being applied. ”

“ While the material is wet the design will show, but when it is dry, by some mysterious trick of the eye, it has apparently vanished; it is therefore advisable to use a second colour to offset either the white or the yellow.
If, however, a second colour is not desired in the batik and consequently have nothing to offset the yellow, the following hint will save the situation; a little blue or a little red, mixed with the yellow solution, will enable the yellow to hold its own on the white ground. The slightest touch of either of these colours will have the desired effect. ”

“ One ten cent package of dye will dye a pound of material; some fabrics, such as a light weight silk run about sixteen yards to the pound. To avoid any waste of dye, it is a good plan to prepare a concentrated solution in a small pan and use it with care and economy. Do not add it all at once to the water in the large vessel, but rather make a weak bath into which the piece is put, after having been rinsed in clear water and squeezed out. When the colour is all taken up from the bath, remove the fabric and add more of the concentrated solution. ”

“ A clean edge to the design is obtained with more certainty if the flat masses are outlined with a fine brush or preferably with a tjanting, before being filled in with the larger brushes. Where the work is done with a tjanting, it is difficult to have the fabric stretched on a frame as this tool is used with the palm of the hand resting on a steady surface. ”

“ At the present time not many die-makers are found, as there is only a comparatively small market for the work. A die is so solidly constructed and lasts so long, that once made, there is seldom a re-order of the same design. The price of dies varies according to the size and elaborateness of the design, ranging from about 25 cents, American money, to as high as $24.00. In Samarang there are still a few men who trade in these tjaps, whilst in Soerabaja there is only one man known who is able to make them. ”

“ For beginners it is always best to start experimental dyeing by daylight, unless one has a very white light, as the yellow of artificial [73] light takes all, or very nearly all the yellow out of a colour, with the result that where one at night has a beautiful blue, this blue will turn to green in the daytime and lavender will invariably turn grey. ”

“ The printing of tjaps is practically always done by men. The workman sits on a low stool, and in front of him is a slanting table to which a large pad is attached; over this the piece that is to be printed is spread. The wax is heated in a flat pan, in which there is a pad of jute, covered with unbleached muslin. The wax is [12] transferred to the metal by pressing the tjap on to this pad. To remove the surplus wax from the tjap the printer swings the die up and down a couple of times and then presses the tjap on to the material in the place where the decoration is desired. ”

“ Another good reason for not using too strong a bath is that with a weaker solution it is much easier to avoid the streaks that annoy the inexperienced dyer. The use of too small a vessel is a frequent cause of uneven dyeing; the material should literally swim in the tub so that no dye can possibly settle in the folds, and for this same reason it is essential to keep the goods stirred the whole time they are in the dye. ”

“ TEMPERATURE OF DYE-BATH A good deal of the failure of success attending the dyeing of a batik depends on the temperature of the dye-bath. Too hot water will of course melt the wax and a too cold bath will make it so brittle that it will crack in unexpected and undesired places. ”