---
title: "Batik"
description: "Batik is a resist-dyeing technique in which wax is applied to cloth to block the dye, repeated for each colour."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/batik
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Batik

*Batik is a resist-dyeing technique in which wax is applied to cloth to block the dye, repeated for each colour.*

In batik, hot wax is drawn or stamped onto cloth. When the cloth is dyed, the waxed areas resist the colour; the wax is then removed, or more is added and the cloth dyed again. Cracks in the wax let thin veins of dye through, a characteristic of the technique.

## Where does it come from?

Wax-resist dyeing is old and widespread, but the name and the most refined tradition belong to Java in Indonesia, where batik is drawn with a small spouted tool, the canting, or stamped with copper blocks. Indonesian batik is recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.


## Sources

1. [Batik (AAT 300053050)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300053050). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Glossary: batik](https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10236/10337). Ashmolean Museum, Yousef Jameel Centre
3. [Batik (Q63442113)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q63442113). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/batik