page_title: Batik
section_title: Sri Lanka
hierarchical_section_title: Batik / Culture / Sri Lanka
caption_attribution_description: English: Woman with brush painting batik in Kandy Sri Lanka Nederlands: Vrouw die met de kwast het batik ontwerp inschildert in Kandy Sri Lanka
context_page_description: Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth. This technique originated from Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a tjanting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists 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.
  The tradition of batik making is found in various countries; the batik of Indonesia, however, may be the best-known. Indonesian batik made in the island of Java has a long history of acculturation, with diverse patterns influenced by a variety of cultures, and is the most developed in terms of pattern, technique, and the quality of workmanship. In October 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
context_section_description: Over the past century, batik making in Sri Lanka has become firmly established. The Sri Lankan batik industry is a small scale industry which can employ individual design talent and mainly deals with foreign customers for profit. It is now the most visible of the island's crafts with galleries and factories, large and small, having sprung up in many tourist areas. Rows of small stalls selling batiks can be found all along Hikkaduwa's Galle Road strip. Mahawewa, on the other hand, is famous for its batik factories.
caption: A batik craftswoman brush painting with wax in Kandy, Sri Lanka
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