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Can't get any cheaper. Opens at 8:30 am. Learn the very basic skills, see how you like it, then take a more expensive and intensive study course with a skilled artisan and really get into it. At Tops you listen to Indonesian yippy music, lots of air, good lighting. Ask questions constantly. The most thorough-going course with the best facilities would have to be Balai Penelitian Batik Kerayinan IThe Batik Research Center), JI. Kusumanegara 2. They offer one month courses, 6 days a week, 9-12 pm, a maximum of 3 persons, which costs Rp25,000 per person. The emphasis at B.P.B.K. is more on the industrial approach, experimenting with new dyes and methods of wax application, etc. At least visit this large institute to gain a familiarity before taking a course elsewhere. Open until 2 pm. It has a permanent exhibition of batik which amounts to a history and introduction to batik-making. The processes involved can be seen, both hand-painted and cap-printed batik. Buy batiks, stamps, waxes, and color chart booklets showing all the possible colors and how to mix them. Buku Penuntun Batik, Rp700. Motief Batik (Batik Design), Rp500. Batik Manual, Rp2250 is a thick book of batik specimens and photos of the processes. Beware of courses taught by the 'world masters'. Students are supposed to get a charge out of studying under such prestige names, but you learn nil. Banjar Bagong's course, run by the dance choreographer Bagong Kussudiardjo, JI. Laksamana, costs Rp6000 plus Rp1200 per day for bed and breakfast.

But the teacher doesn't teach and employs boys who don't speak English to teach you. For the same reason Kurswadji's course, Kadipaten (Mangkubumen) 1/342, is poor at Rp7500per week; he puts his 'assistants' on you and you don't learn a thing unless you speak Indonesian. Bambang Oetero in Babadan village gives courses but it depends on his schedule. This acclaimed modern batik designer charges Rp5000 per week. Courses run for one month, 9 am-3 pm, 6 days a week. He doesn't take any more than 6 students at a time and he really teaches you. Born in 1936, he's exhibited all over the world from Rhodesia to Ohio. He was chief designer for the Government Batik Research Center for 14 years. Bambang sticks to classical themes and uses classical colors, a symbolic style. He lives in a quiet Javanese kampung out of town, an ideal work environment. Hadjir, an older teacher, uses a big blackboard to instruct. He really goes into detail, mixing dyes, etc. Plays nice music. Join his intensive course at Gapura Batik, Taman Kraton Kp. 111/1777; begins at 2 pm, lasts 7-10 days.