Sharing : Indonesian Art of textile “Batik” all the time

Let’s be proud of our own country art textile,Batik, which Unesco has list batik as one of the world cultural heritage from Indonesia and it is fall on 2nd of October. On that day, encouraged everyone wear batik to show their support and of course we all posed with our best Batik.

Making a batik is not just like cooking an instant noodle, you need a lot of patience and creativity to do it. In Javanese, batik means ‘to-dot’. So indirectly batik-ing is just like drawing or painting on a piece of cloth using canting (read:'’tjanting’ is a small copper cupped spout which is attached to a bamboo or wooden handle) and liquid wax. (now known as batik tulis or hand drawn batik)

But nowadays, in order to make life’s easier. They use carved wooden/ cooper blocks to do the stamped batik (batik cap). All you need to do is carve the wooden and dipped it into a pan of hot wax and pressed on the long laid cloth on the long tables. Chop chop chop…and done…:D

Know more on batik tulis

Finely detailed designs are first drawn freehand with a pencil on the textile. Then hot liquid wax is applied. The cloth is hung over a frame. The wax used in the process can be a combined product of paraffin, bees-wax, and plant resins called gondorukem and mata kucing. The canting is dipped into a pot of hot wax and the wax then flows through the spout on to the fabric. From time to time she blows on the tip of the canting to secure an easy flow of the wax. The wax is removed with hot water, scraped from the portions of the dried material still to be dyed. The parts that were covered by the wax did not absorb the dye and thus remain white (or whatever color the original cloth was previously dyied). Since the wax behave as a resisting medium, this process is called resist-dye process. Next, other areas are waxed over. this is repeated during each phase of the coloring process, up to four or more times, until the overall pattern and effect are achieved. ( o.O Oh My God…I’m so sure I don’t have that patience LOL…)

Tat’s why batik tulis costs you a lot…so do pay attention on it. If you don’t waste them correctly, the beautiful pattern will fade eventually. So let’s see some tips on it:

• Wash them gently with hands, don’t use machine or brush
• Don’t squeeze dry because it will ruin the fibers of your Batik
• Air dry the Batik but do not put them directly under sun light
• Don’t iron them directly, lay a thin fabric on top of the Batik first
• Use a liquid detergent specially formulated for Batik
• If you wish to scent the cloth, do not spray perfume or similar agents directly onto the cloth. Impregnate tissue paper or thin paper with the scent and lay/store the batik between these sheets of paper

Let’s have a peek on Batik Fashion ♥