Materials for Batik

The tools and materials used in batik are simple and readily available.
Any tool that can efficiently transfer hot wax from a container to the fabric will serve to produce a design on cloth when it is dyed. At the simplest level, a lighted candle can be used to distribute drops of melted wax on the fabric. A variety of objects such as bent wire or the rim of a tin can, can be dipped in melted wax and pressed onto the cloth to make a design. However the serious artist uses the brush. The best to use is about a Number Twelve water-color brush. The brush needs to have a large enough tip to retain a good quantity of wax. A larger brush for waxing out large areas of cloth is very useful as is a small brush-a Number Six is about as small as one can use-for delicate work.

The selection of waxes is important to the quality of the finished batik. Paraffin and beeswax are the two waxes most commonly used in batik and are usually combined in different proportions.

Because of its ready availability the best fabric for most batiks is cotton. The weave of the cloth should not be too close, and the fabric should be translucent when held in front of a light. For the best results, the fabric to be waxed should be stretched on a frame in a taut manner to prevent wrinkles which may cause the wax to run in an unpredictable way.

Wax is an inflammable substance, so the wax container should not be placed directly on the source of heat. It should sit in boiling water, and care should be taken to see that the water is replenished as it evaporates.

As with painting, color is an integral part of batik. A painter uses pigment; a batik artist uses dyes. The Painter can, if he chooses, completely obliterate an undesirable color by covering it with another color. Perhaps he must wait until the unwanted color is dry, but there is no doubt about it, he has another chance, he can cover up his mistake.

In batik the correction of mistakes, in most cases, is impossible. The Painter is not limited in any way in the variety of colors he uses and juxtaposes. In batik, however, each color used is significantly changed by the proceeding color; or at least it is certainly affected by the color "underneath". The only pure color is the first one, so all other colors used are mixtures, determined largely by the first color, or the first strong color.