290 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
November, 1913 
is dyed. This leaves a print of 
cracks or wrinkles when the wax is 
removed. This is the most decora¬ 
tive and characteristic feature of the 
batik, and under the guidance of 
the wise designer can be used with 
effect, instead of just being a more 
or less unhappy accident. 
The tools and materials for batik¬ 
making are simple. Beeswax, par¬ 
affin and rosin are used for making 
the resist. Denatured alcohol is 
needed for the spirit lamp to heat 
the wax, and benzine for cleaning 
the wax resist from the batik. The 
One of the modern examples of 
Batik work 
little instrument used as a container 
for the hot wax is not unlike a small 
copper teapot with a 
long handle. It is 
called a “tjanting” 
by the Javanese. 
These tjantings have 
spouts or tubes for 
conveying the hot 
wax resist. And these 
tubes are of various sizes, regulated for making 
fine or coarse lines. This little instrument can be 
made by any metal worker or skilled tool maker. 
It is wisest to make it of thin sheet copper, because 
it is then lighter to hold and heats more easily. 
The Javanese make their tjantings also of copper, 
using bamboo for the handle. 
All the line work of design can be done with 
this tube. Large masses or spaces, however, are 
more easily filled in with very hot wax and an or¬ 
dinary paint brush. 
A small spirit lamp, a tripod to hold the wax 
receptacles and several small enameled bowls com¬ 
plete the ecjuipment for wax-resist printing. A 
spool of copper wire might be added, because it is 
convenient to use a piece of it in clearing the spout 
of the tjanting. Even after the wax is carefully 
strained particles of dust are apt to get into the 
tubes and interfere with the free flow of the wax. 
The different kinds of fabrics—cotton, silk and linen—each call 
for individual treatment, which in each is determined by the char¬ 
acter of the fiber of which the fabric is woven. These treatments 
are carried out by mixing the resist of different proportions of 
wax paraffin and rosin, and by using different degrees of heat in 
its application. The paraffin assists the crackle in the resist, and 
the rosin helps it to adhere to the fiber. 
For drawing on silk, where a clean, unbroken line is needed, 
pure beeswax, moderately heated, should be used. Silk is more 
easily penetrated by the hot wax resist than other materials and 
requires careful handling. 
In order to keep the wax resist at a moderate temperature, pure 
beeswax should be cut up, melted and strained through a piece of 
fine cambric into one of the small enamel bowls. The bowl itself 
should be kept hot in another and larger bowl of boiling water. 
The hot wax can be dipped out of the bowl with a spoon, or, if 
the vessel has a spout, poured into the tjanting. Do not, on 
any account, when drawing on silk, fill the pot itself with un¬ 
melted beeswax and then hold it over the spirit lamp to heat. The 
Madras Batik, with 
turned over 
Javanese purposely make their tjantings with the bamboo handle 
extending out under the base of the metal container, so that it 
cannot be held directly over the flame without injuring the handle. 
If the crackled or broken line is needed, add one-half paraffin 
to the beeswax. The kind of line used in batik should correspond 
with the character of the applied decoration. If this is unconven¬ 
tional or naturalistic, a crackled or broken line is appropriate. 
If the design is formal or abstract, a clear and distinct line should 
be used. It is then that great care must be taken with the tem¬ 
perature of the wax resist. Very hot beeswax flows quickly 
through the spout of the tjanting, and spreads unless carefully 
guided. Then drops of wax are apt to form at the end of the 
tube, and unless watched will fall off and spot the fabric. 
For all backgrounds on silk, where a crackled effect is desired, 
a mixture of half beeswax and paraffin should be used and a little 
rosin added. Sometimes a purposely crackled background can be 
effectively combined with spots and figures which have no 
detail. 
On heavy linen and on cotton or velvet, beeswax should be used 
very hot for beginners’ experiments, and until the possibilities of 
the wax-resist process are more perfectly understood, it is always 
safe to use clear beeswax, for it insures with less 
skill a more even line. 
After the wax resist has been applied to the 
material it is left to dry and harden. It can be 
then removed by one of two processes. If the 
reserve has been made on silk it is removed by 
dipping in a bath of benzine. Benzine dissolves 
paraffin and beeswax and rosin, and whatever re¬ 
mains can be pressed out of the silk with a mod¬ 
erately hot iron over blotting paper. On velvets 
the nap must be raised. If it is in small pieces, this 
can be done over the teakettle; but if in larger 
pieces, it had best be taken to the commercial 
dyer. Boiling with hot water and laundry soap 
will remove resist from linen and cotton. 
The treatment for leather is the same as for 
other surfaces, except that in general a broader 
and freer line may be used. On leather the crackle 
of the batik is most effective. Great freedom, too, 
may be used in the matter of design, especially 
for screens and wall hangings, where more or less 
naturalistic motif 
may be decoratively 
treated, and where 
textures may be re¬ 
produced. 
Probably the most 
satisfactory colors for dyeing batik 
on linen and cotton are those dyes 
among the natural and artificial pig¬ 
ments which are set by oxidation. 
The advantage of these dyes is that 
they can be used in a cold dye bath, 
which does not destroy the wax re¬ 
sist. 
Among the natural pigments, in¬ 
digo comes first of all and is most 
important. It is the most beautiful 
and permanent of all dyes and the 
base for many others. The vat 
method for cotton, linen and silk 
(Continued on page 318) 
