In writing the following pages on “Batiks, and how they are made” I had a double purpose in view. First, to make this ancient art more known to the public in general and to the many textile craftworkers in particular; secondly, to try to give some practical advice which will make for the better execution of the work.

Batik is not so crude a method of decorating material as many people have thought it to be. It is not a matter of smearing some wax on a piece of material with any old brush, dipping it haphazard into any kind of dye, leaving it to the gods to decide what colour it is going to be, and finally trying to sell it as a high-priced work of art. On the contrary, it is a craft which requires quite a good deal of skill and knowledge of design, as well as a good idea of colour.

The batik art has been much abused and it may be of interest to many to know something of its history, to read the description of the process as practised by the natives of Java, the method used in Holland, and the means now employed by some craftsmen and women in America.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the fact that it is, as a rule, the small details that many people like to overlook because they seem of comparatively little importance, that bring out the charm and beauty of a real batik. Batik is not difficult, the chief requirements are care and time, and the best results are always gotten by giving time to the work and not trying to do it in a rush. As with any other art or craft, one needs to study the medium before using it and another fact that has only been too often forgotten, is, that batik has design and knowledge of colour as its foundation and I would like to advise readers who have not studied these essentials, to leave batik alone until they have acquired some understanding of them.

Most of the hints given here are the outcome of the many years that I have spent making batiks. Having seen it done in Java as well as in Holland, I have had an opportunity to compare the different ways of working, and by experimenting, have found many little helpful things which I gladly share with present and future workers.

In the last few years, batik has advanced in this country with rapid strides and I am sure that a good deal of this is the result of the interest which manufacturers, especially those in the silk industry, have taken in its development. Batik work, however, is not a manufacturing process. The moment we try to commercialize it, that is, to make the same design in quantities, the quality decreases; a great deal of the beauty of a batik lies in the personal touch of the artist or craftsman who makes it, and we may safely say that neither of them is able to do machine work and produce a practically unlimited quantity in a short time. It certainly is a pity that some manufacturers have already tried to commercialize it by means of using untrained boys and girls to execute in quantities the designs of others. When one sees the result of these efforts, one is inclined to ask, “Is it a good idea to spread the knowledge of batik?”

On the other hand, if the buying public knows more about the work than it does now, if they know the time and the care it takes to make a good batik, then I am sure that their desire for good batik will increase and the manufactured product soon will be where the other manufactured arts have gone.

Before going on to the description of batik, I should like to say a word of thanks to Olive Earle, for valuable help. Also to “House and Garden” and “Elsevier’s Geill: Maandschrift” for their kindness in lending me some of the photographs used.

Pieter Mijer.

New York, April, 1919.