Sometimes I want to strangle friends who complain about the high price of handmade batik. “Kok mahal banget sih?” Hate that. I once attended a batik course and I really wanted to throw tantrums. It was damn hard to create even the smallest piece of batik cloth as it requires a steady hand and tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of patience! Batik patterns are created through a painstaking, laborious process of hand-drawn wax design and repeatedly dipping the textile in different dyes. Mind you that high-quality batik pieces can take months to complete. Don't be a cheapskate.