Manchester Memoirs, Vol. l. (1906), No. 4. 5 



presses it on the cloth, working continuously from left to 

 right until the whole cloth has been covered and the 

 design is complete. 



The blocks which are used are made of thin strips 

 of sheet brass inserted in a wooden back, in such a way 

 that their edges produce the running patterns which are 

 invariably used in battack work. They act in use in 

 exactly the same way as the type does in ordinary letter- 

 press printing. Several blocks are used to work out 

 the complete design, and the work of any particular 

 battacking establishment can be recognised in different 

 patterns of sarong by the appearance here and there of 

 the same block. 



The wax used for pattern stamping is a different 

 composition from that employed in the brushwork, as 

 the latter is so thin that it would run too easily from the 

 block and smudge the design. Tlie block wax is a 

 mixture of ordinary resin and paraffin wax, or some of 

 the varnish-gums which are collected by the natives. 

 The wax is melted over a charcoal fire, and after being 

 dipped the block is freed from the excess of wax by 

 being pressed on a pad which is kept warm by being 

 placed in close proximity to the melting fire. 



Having been completely covered with the design in 

 this way the cloth is hung up for a short time, so that 

 the wax may become thoroughly hard before the process 

 of dyeing is commenced. 



So far as I have been able to observe, it is the practice 

 of the Javanese never to use more than two colours in 

 this class of sarong printing, these being indigo and the 

 brown dye obtained from mangrove bark, but by dyeing 

 in both of these colours they are able to produce a black. 

 The result of this limited use of colours is that this battack 

 work is characterised by a white, blue, brown and black 



