As you walk around in Bali, you may notice some of the locals wearing bright, beautifully-patterned sarongs and shirts. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this print, it’s called batik.
Known as an ancient art form for many Indonesians, batik is made with wax and plant-based dye. There are two ways to apply the wax to cotton to create a batik design.
One method entails draping cloth over a frame and subsequently drawing with a canting (a copper and often bamboo-handled spout). The canting is dipped in heated wax and applied to the material as you draw out the print you desire.
The alternative method utilizes a stamping tool which simplifies the batik-making process. With the cloth on a table, the copper stamper is submerged in hot wax and ironed onto the fabric. This way, the design may be repeated for other garments at a much more efficient speed.
There are a few places on the island that teach how to make batik. Widya Batik in Gianyar (which receives particularly good reviews from guests) and Batik Popiler in Denpasar are two options you can consider.