Jogja City

Batik is a unique form of Indonesian art, a combination of artistic expression and technical skill that can be seen only in Indonesia. Using beeswax, paraffin and multi colors dyeing, batik is done on pieces of clothing. And among the other claims of Fame, Jogja is also famous as “Batik City”.
Based on the technique used, batik falls into three categories: hand-waxed, hand stamp, and the combination of two. Hand waxing is done with a tool called “Chanting” which is made of brass or copper. For the hand stamp batik, a copper stamp with various design are used, while combination of batik is the result of combining the “canting” and the stamp technique.
The quality of batik is determined by the intricacy of the motif, the technique used and the kind basic cloths. Originally, both the colour and the motif were very much influenced by the surrounding nature or belief system such as plants, especially flowers like the jasmine; animals like the mythological Garuda bird and divinely inspired creation motifs. The dominant colour is blue or black symbolize water and air. These four colours stand for two basic elements; this symbolic background produces special Batik design in Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Solo) become dominant colors in traditional batik.