12/29/98: While walking around town today I got slapped on my bum by an old lady with a huge wad of chewing tobacco in her mouth, and very few teeth left in her grinning mouth… After a long walk past many shops, we made it to a batik shop that actually one that makes the fabric prints as well as sells it. The tour of the factory that was fascinating, but the prices were way too high for us, so all we did was look… We went to see an Indonesian ballet tonight…
NOTE: The photo above shows an Indonesian artisan applying hot wax to cotton fabric in traditional ornamental designs. When this step is complete, the fabric is soaked in a colored dye, which stains unwaxed areas of fabric. Once the dye has saturated and permanently colored exposed parts of the fabric, the entire cloth is soaked in boiling water which melts the wax away, leaving the patter reversed in white.
12/29/23: Here is a 7-minute long video about traditional batik making in Indonesia.
