On 5 December 2025 I got to give a batikworkshop at the Indonesian embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Of course it feels like an upside down world to be invited to do this, but bare in mind that the way I give batik lessons is very much adapted to work in an inside, colder environment. As always I do use the canting, waxpen, from Java, brought several batiks & books on batik with me and on a loop photos of the makers of Java that I took along my journeys were shown.
I was informed mostly spouses of ambassadors would join, but to our surprise also the ambassadors themselves joined. The ambassador of Indonesia herself joined both sessions to make Batik.
The participants had 1,5 hour to make their own batik, very short considering this is normally a process of several weeks. On a small size, using the canting and adding colours by brush, all 45 participants made their own unique batik. Next to many butterflies & birds, there were batiks inspired by flowers, Christmas, even Labubu made an appearance.
It was an amazing experience. Before we had a lot of back and forths on the materials, making me have some worries, what if this was missing, or did not work. Carried myself 4 kilo of beewax, the right cotton & dyes, extra cantings, just to be sure. Our preparations were good, we missed nothing and all batiks turned out great!
Thank you Indonesian Embassy Copenhagen, terima kasih banyak Bapak Terry & Ibu Cynthia!
