This coloured and patterned cloth is now becoming popular in Malaysia and the best Malaysian batiks come from the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. There are two types of batik, the hand drawn and the stamped. Recently there are also machine printed batik which design is clearer and colour on one side only.
Hand drawn batik uses a small copper cup and fountain pen like ‘janting’ with melted wax to draw across the length and breadth of the cloth. Dyeing process is like filling colour on the drawing block, only different is the outline is wax instead of pen. The waxed areas resist dye. The cloth will then sent to ‘boil’ in warm water in order to get rid of the wax after it is soaked in chemical that makes the colour stay.
Stamped batik has the similar process like hand drawn batik, only different is the janting will be replaced by a copper or sometimes a wooden stamp which looks like a domestic iron with artistically patterned bottom.
Today batik is not only used for outfits but some innovative commercial individual has made full use of this beautiful and artistic textile into making bags, cushion covers, curtains, slippers etc.
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