Batik is the ancient Indonesian art of waxing, dyeing, boiling and sun drying natural fabrics.
On tropical Java in the Spice Islands archipelago, craftsmen carve and sculpt wooden or metal “chops” used to hand stamp dye-resistant wax onto the cloth.
Dying the cloth, then boiling out the wax, exposes a hand-created pattern. It also ensures that no two pieces are exactly alike, nor look mass-produced; and that there’s no shrinkage in a machine wash.