Textile technique
Batik
Wax protects selected cloth areas from dye to create a patterned textile.
Also searched as: wax-resist dyeing
Open the interactive guide ↗How it is made
Artisans apply the wax design, dye the cloth and remove the resist. Repeated stages allow additional colors and detail.
How to recognize it
Look for reserved lines and areas, sometimes with fine dye veins where wax cracked.
Common uses
- Garments
- Scarves
- Decorative cloth
What to distinguish
Batik is a process with important cultural traditions, especially in Indonesia, not one flower or geometric motif. A batik-style print need not use wax resist.
Sources & further reading
Research checked 2026-09-27. Descriptions are original summaries; references support terminology and construction, not every product sold under a name.