After taking part in Ana and Andang’s beautiful wedding, I went the next morning with my group of girls to explore Yogyakarta’s Batik industry. Yogyakarta is knows as the cultural capital of Java, and one of the crafts that they do there is Batik.

A few shots from our explorations:

Waking up in the morning at a five star hotel is not without its perks, including a very complete breakfast buffet, and classy transportation.

Batik, with the wax masks laid down by hand.

For higher volume batik, the men use metal stamps to lay down the wax.

Rich dyes are used.

The original designs are traced by hand, before the women retrace the pencil marks with wax.

Jessica learning how to trace the intricate patterns.

The women work in large warehouses, and sit in social circles, chatting while they trace.