"The techniques, symbolism and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments known as Indonesian Batik permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end: infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik. Clothes with everyday designs are worn regularly in business and academic settings, while special varieties are incorporated into celebrations of marriage and pregnancy and into puppet theatre and other art forms. The garments even play the central role in certain rituals, such as the ceremonial casting of royal batik into a volcano. Batik is dyed by proud craftspeople who draw designs on fabric using dots and lines of hot wax, which resists vegetable and other dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water and repeating if multiple colours are desired."
Source: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Postcard 1
A Javanese lady making a batik cloth. Well known Indonesian batik includes Batik Solo, Batik Pekalongan, Batik Cirebon, Batik Lasem, Batik Jogja. Nice stamps used. Thanks to Shinta of Indonesia.
Postcard 2
Motif Batik Jogjakarta. Thanks to Iqbal of Indonesia.
Postcard 3
Batik design from Maluku. Mailed with a Maluku North stamp. Thanks to Ayu of Indonesia.
