BATIK

Indonesia particularly the island of Java, is famous for it's batik printing of fabrics. The most famous method of making batik is to apply molten wax designs to cloth. The waxed cloth is then dipped in dye. Once the dye has dried the wax is removed with solvent. The dye does not take to the parts of the cloth which were waxed, so a pattern is left.

Copper Tjaps

Many batik designs are very complex and the same pattern needs to be applied many times. This is done with stamps (called caps or tjaps) carved from wood or fashioned from metal strips and wires. Many of these metal tjaps are made of copper. The tjaps themselves, like the batik they were used for producing, can be very beautiful and are very collectable.