RERAMIC STUDIO 
45 
As I said before, any student who is interested in 
batiking, will find in a few numbers of the "Bulletin" 
particulars concerning the Harlem batiking technique. 
This Bulletin may be obtained on application from the 
Colonial Museum (No. 23, price $0.24; No. 25, with colored 
plate of a parchment batik, $0.40; No. 28, about alizarin 
technique, $0.40). These pamphlets ma)' also be had as 
a loan from the Library of the Museum, entirely free of 
charge. Requests for information concerning batiking 
are always gladly answered. 
At the Laboratory labels for batik work may be ob- 
tained, inscribed: "Done with dyes warranted non-fad- 
ing", the name of the maker and a number which is entered 
on a register. These labels may be obtained free of charge 
by any batiker who can give sufficient proof of the durable 
qualities of the dyes he has used. 
I here wish to call attention to the unfortunate influence 
on the batiking technique of a wholesale production by the 
trade. The latter will naturally apply the principle of 
division of labor, and the very quality which distinguishes 
the art product from the factory product at once disappears, 
the quality of being stamped with a character of its own, 
of being produced by a living, thinking artist. There is 
now circulating a Dutch batik work which consists of 
nothing but badly dyed factory patterns. For more than 
half a century the textile industry has used so-called "resists" 
which protect parts of the textile to be dyed from the in- 
fluence of the dye. As a rule these reserved spots have 
been produced by the mechanical appliance of ingeniously 
contrived implements. In factory made batik, the only differ- 
ence will be that the work will be done by men and women 
who will be made to work like machines, and thus the 
elevating and civilizing influence which a beautiful craft 
always exercises on mankind, will be destroyed. The 
superiority of batiking, as a craft, is precisely that it en- 
ables every artist to transfer his designs in a lasting way 
to silk, linen, cotton, parchment, leather, without the 
•intervention of a factory or dyeing establishment. 
May many feel called to apply themselves to this fine 
craft, and in so doing enrich modern industrial art with 
a new branch, which may bear as beautiful fruit as its 
sister branch, the Javanese art of batiking. 
In answer to inquiries, Mr. Neuhuys sends us the fol- 
lowing additional and explanatory notes : 
The tjanting or wax vessel is made of brass. To the 
lower projecting opening, on right side, a handle is adjusted ; 
in the Javanese tjanting, a bamboo stick. The pipe on 
top is used to regulate the flow of wax, by closing or open- 
ing it with the fingers. When the fingers are taken off the 
pipe, the wax flows through the spout, when the pipe is 
closed the wax stops flowing. Adjustable spouts of dif- 
ferent sizes are used on the tjanting, large ones to draw 
large lines or cover big spots, smaller ones for finer work. 
The smallest one used has a hole not thicker than a hair. 
Different wax mixtures have been indicated, but no 
definite formula given because no definite results have 
yet been obtained. But the foundation of all the mix- 
tures to be experimented with must be pure beeswax, no 
imitations should be used. 
The wax is kept in a liquid state by putting the tjant- 
ing in hot water and keeping it at an even temperature. 
The room in which wax drawing is done should also be 
kept well heated. 
Some artists draw their design at once on the material 
they are using for batik, others make the design on linen 
tracing paper which is attached to the back of the textile 
or parchment, and the latter placed on a frame against a 
window, as shown in the accompanying illustration. This 
frame arrangement is similar to that used by photographers 
to retouch their negatives. When treating parchment, 
the parchment may be placed on a glass plate and the 
pattern on the back of the glass. 
Iuu5 
The larger spaces of the wax drawing often crack 
accidentally. After dyeing, these cracks show fine irreg- 
ular colored lines, which constitute one' [of the charms 
of the batik. After the wax drawing is made, the material 
can be folded and thus cracks can be produced purposely. 
The milk of lime spoken of in first part of the article 
is simply unslaked lime. 
ART IN PEWTER 
Jules Brateau 
(continued) 
After the XVI. century the pewter industry increased 
in prosperity, although it lost in artistic merit. However 
tasteful articles were still produced, especially in Germany, 
but in such quantities that no real progress in decoration 
could be made. The invasion of Italian ceramics from 
Urbino, Faenza, and Gubbio, struck a blow at the produc- 
tion of large decorative pieces in pewter. These faiences 
of superb coloring, and of varied subjects, easily found a 
place in the homes of the rich, to the detriment of engraved 
pewter work. In France, as early as the XVII. century, 
the manufacture of these ceramics, at Rouen, Nevers, and 
Moustiers, caused a rapid decline of the pewter industry, 
which was powerless against the infatuation of the public 
No. 33. Bas-Relief i 
pewter. "Jupiter and Juno.'' XVII. century. Louis XI II. 
of France. Belongs to J. Brateau. 
