Finely detailed designs
are first drawn freehand with a pencil on the textile. Then hot
liquid wax is applied.
A Javanese
woman applying
wax in
the intricately involved patterns with a canting (tjanting), a small copper container
with a long slender spout. From time to time she blows
on the tip of the canting to secure an easy flow of the wax.
Areas not slated for coloring are filed
with the wax. the cloth is then passed through a vat of dye.
The wax is removed with hot water,
scraped from the portions of the dried material still to be dyed.
Next, other areas are waxed over. this
is repeated during each phase of the coloring process, up to
four or more times, until the overall pattern and effect are
achieved. |