he charm of batik prints lies in each piece being an individualistic creation. The artist can give a full shape to his idea of designs, since in this art continuity of designs is maintained.

Batik is a resist-dye process, universally used as one of the decorative techniques in which certain design areas are covered with a substance which will resist dyeing. After the fabric has been dyed, the resist substance is removed, leaving the colour of the fabric showing through. The dye-resisting substance most commonly associated with batik is hot wax, which usually consists of paraffin, beeswax and some resin melted together. The successive colour applications should be borne in mind when planning and designing a multi-colour batik.Very few pieces of equipment are required for the practice of this art. In its simplest form, the artist merely applies molten wax to a stretched piece of fabric with a small brush. When the wax has hardened, the piece of fabric is dyed in Azoic (napthol) cold dye bath until the proper shade is obtained. More resist is applied to retain some of the second colour and the fabric is dyed, dried and waxed again. After the dyed cloth is dried, it is placed between several sheets of heavy wrapping paper and pressed with a hot iron to remove the wax. Finally, the entire fabric is cleared of wax with boiling water and soap. As the fabric is handled in the process, the wax coating breaks up into a kind of irregular network of thin hair-like cracks through which the dye finds its way and creates involuntarily a design of its own which give the fabric a fresh quality and enhances its attractiveness.