28 
House & Garden 
METHODS of MAKING BATIKS 
A Javanese Art Now Used In This Country for Fabrics of 
Unusual Design—Its Adaptation to Household Decoration 
G. W. HARTING 
B ATIK, or Sarong, the word being Java¬ 
nese, means dyed cloth, and in Java the 
art has been practised by the natives for cen¬ 
turies. Dutch traders coming back from their 
Far East travels brought batiks to Holland 
some time in the 17 th Century, and ever since 
they have been executed in the Lowlands. The 
designs, of course, were different but the me¬ 
chanical methods were just the same as those 
employed at the present time. 
Not until seven years ago was the art intro¬ 
duced to America. It was brought here by 
Peter Myer, a Hollander, who had spent sev¬ 
eral years of his life with the Javanese people 
before coming to America. It was Mr. Myer 
who furnished information about the Javanese 
batiks, arranged the batik design described be¬ 
low, and posed in some of the photographs 
showing the method of executing the pattern 
on the cloth. 
In Java the work is done chiefly out of doors. 
The patterns are designed and waxed by the 
women, the men doing the dyeing. Among the 
Javanese, certain localities use certain designs 
During the past year or two many articles 
have appeared telling about the wonderful sar¬ 
ongs or batiks executed by the Javanese people 
in the Far East Indies. Photographs have been 
printed in House & Garden with descriptions 
of the fine designs in hangings, curtains and 
wall decorations, executed in this manner by 
the few artists doing the work in this country. 
Originals of this method of artistic expression 
have found their way, from time to time, into 
craft shows, architectural exhibits and the like, 
but never before have the methods of making a 
batik been adequately pictured. That is the 
object of this article: to show how to make a 
batik, and to tell how to adapt the process to 
decorating curtains, cushion tops, gowns, lamp¬ 
shades, belts, and many other fabrics of utility 
and beauty. 
and certain colors in the designs, but seldom 
more than two or three colors. In this respect 
the modern work of American craftsmen differs 
from the native original productions, although 
the general character of many of the designs 
is similar. 
The Javanese use vegetable dyes exclusively. 
These dyes are made by the natives them¬ 
selves. The cloth is worked over a horizontal 
bar. When working the finer parts of the 
design the wax is applied by means of a Tjant¬ 
ing (pronounced “chun-ting”), a sort of cup 
and spout arrangement. In covering the larger, 
flat masses a brush is used. Tjantings used in 
this country come from Holland. The native 
Javanese women create their own designs as 
they work, no matter how intricate and elabo¬ 
rate the pattern may be. 
“Crackle,” a cracked design which appears 
on the finished cloth, is caused by the w r ax ap¬ 
plied being cracked before the cloth is dipped 
in the dye. This seldom shows on native 
work because they are so careful in dipping, 
but it is highly prized among American crafts¬ 
men. Until late years the cotton cloth used in 
Java was woven by native women on crude, 
homemade looms. Both men and women use 
these dyed designs for the purpose of dress, 
achieving effects that are at once odd and 
beautiful in their strength of color and pattern. 
Owing to the fact that foreign printed de- 
The first process is to outline the transferred design 
on the fabric with wax, laid on with a tjanting 
o o 
The second process is to wax over those portions 
you wish to keep the original color of the cloth 
A first dyeing of 
light yellow tones 
over the cloth 
The outline of the de¬ 
sign is waxed in first 
The white parts are 
waxed. Dyeing begins 
Another waxing and an¬ 
other color are applied 
The final ground color 
is given before ironing 
