Master Wan Batik

Two main types of batik are produced in Malaysia today -- hand-painted and block-printed. The difference lies in the production techniques, motif and aesthetic expressions; each is often classified according to the tool used.

The painter uses the canting, a small copper container with one or more differently sized pipes. The container is attached to a handle made of wood or bamboo. The canting is filled with molten wax and used to trace the outlines of a pattern on the fabric...

Batik today is found in many places in the world. Though, as a form of art and origins, it is mostly associated with the Malay Archipelago, including present-day Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Traditional batik reached its heights on the Island of Java (in Indonesia) continues to be a main source of excellent batik till today.

Produced by an ingenious technique using several wax-resist dyeing methods on an originally plain piece of textile which is then transformed into batik...