technique to make batik

(1)

(2)

TECHNIQUE TO MAKE BATIK

•

This refers to the processes involved in making batik, starting

from the white fabric (mori) until its end result, the batik itself.

•

We can divide these processes into two stages, namely:

1. Preparation : processes that are done to the mori so that this

white fabric will be ready to undergo further treatment. This

involved stages of washing (nggirah/ngetel), starching

(nganji), and ironing/flattening (ngemplong).

2. The batik making processes itself, which has three major

components:

a. Application of wax onto the fabric

b. Application of dye onto the fabric

c. Removal of wax from the fabric

(3)

(4)

1.Cutting the Fabric

•

White fabric (mori) that is still on factory-made size/piece will

be cut according to the intended use.

•

For long cloth ‘kain panjang’ or jarit:

-

Primissima & prima – good quality (length 17.5

yard, width 105cm/42 inches) will be cut into 6 pieces.

- Biro – medium quality (length 48 yards/42m, width

105cm/42 inches) will be cut into 19 pieces (normal

size) or 20 pieces (clothes size).

(5)

2. Washing (nggirah)

•

The raw fabric that will later be used to make batik, usually

would be excessively starched so that the fabric looks thicker

and heavier. As the starch would have an adverse effect on

the end result of batik, we need to remove this starch and

then replace it with lighter starch. To remove the original

starch, the fabric will be soaked overnight in clean water then

in the following morning will be rinsed in moving water until

clean.

(6)

3. ‘Ketel’ Process

• material used in this process usually includes vegetable oil mixture and chemical that has alkaline nature (ash soda, costic soda). This mixture will be applied to the fabric repetitively in which between each session fabric will be dried or sun-dried.

• There are a number of ways this process can be done, some examples are as followed:

1. Using the mix of peanut oil and costic soda. This mixture is used to make the low quality batik.

For fabric with length of 15 yards (enough to make 5 pieces of batik) a. The materials needed to make the mixture are:

- 70 gram of costic soda dissolved into 10 litres of water. - 300 cc of vegetable oil

b. Application:

• 1st _{day: wet the fabric with 2 litres of normal water, followed by 2 litres} of the ketel mixture and the vegetable oil and then worked so that the mixture will be absorbed and mixed into the fabric After that, fabric will be folded or rolled and will be kept inside a container in a wet state.

• 2nd _{day, the fabric will be spread open then sun-dried. When it is dry, it} will be soaked in 1 ½ litres of costic soda mixture, be worked for a while and then kept inside a container in a wet state.

(7)

2. Using the mix of peanut oil and ‘londo merang’. This mixture is used to make medium to good quality batik.

For fabric with length of 17 yards:

a. The materials needed to make the mixture are:

- 10 bundles of rice stalks, burned and then soaked in 20 litres of water (to make londo merang).

- 300 cc of vegetable oil

b. Application:

1st _{day: spread out the fabric, put it inside the special tub used in ketel} process, wet the fabric with water, followed by 2 litres of the rice stalk ash water (londo water) and the vegetable oil and then worked so that the mixture will be absorbed and mixed into the fabric After that, fabric will be kept inside the tub in a wet state.

2nd _{day, the fabric will be worked again then sun-dried. When it is dry, it} will be soaked in 1 ½ litres of londo water, be worked for a while and then kept inside a container in a wet state.

(8)

3. Using the mix of peanut oil and ‘ash’ soda. This mixture is used to make medium to good quality batik.

For fabric that’s already cut into batik size with length of 3 yards:

a. The materials needed to make the mixture are:

- 6 x 7.5 grams (45 grams) ‘ash’ soda dissolved into 3 litres of water.

- 75 cc of vegetable oil

b. Application:

• Wet the fabric with water inside the special tub. Mix vegetable oil and ½ litre of ‘ash’ soda mixture and then pour this mix into the tub. Fabric will then be worked so that the mixture will be absorbed and mixed into the fabric and then the fabric will be dried. After it is dry, fabric will be worked with ½ litre of ‘ash’ soda mixture and then dried again. We will do this phase for 6 times.

• This method doesn’t require the storing the fabric overnight in a wet state, so it is possible to repeat this stage more than once in a day.

(9)

•

There are other ways to do this ‘ketel’ process. Each

different batik central has different methodologies and

experiences.

•

There is also a way to remove the starch with acid hot bath

in which fabric will be soaked in an almost boiling acid

mixture (2 cc of hydro chloride/hydro sulfate per litre of water

for + ½ hour).

(10)

4. Starching Process

•

This step is important so that the wax isnt absorbed by the

fabric and easier to remove. However, the starch itself

should not cause adverse reaction on the dyeing process.

•

Starch that will be used here is of the light variety.

•

We use about 20 grams of tapioca starch for every 1 litre

of water.

•

First the tapioca starch will be added to a little bit of hot

water and then diluted until the desired consistency is

reached.

(11)

4. Kemplong Process

•

The fabric that has gone through the washing and

starching process needs to be straightened or having its

surface flattened. This can be done by beating the fabric

numerous time. How is it exactly done?

•

Some pieces (+ 10 pieces) of the fabric that have been

starched and dried are rolled together and then put on top

of wood with smooth surface. The bunch of fabric and the

wooden base will be tied together and then beaten with a

wooden bat. After the fabrics are flat enough, the roll is

then opened and the fabric will then be individually folded

or moving on the next process straight away.

(12)

(13)

1.Drawing/ stamping wax onto the fabric

Before we move to this stage, if we’re applying wax by canting, we would need to sketch the design on the fabric.

However if we’re using the stamp method, we don’t need to sketch the pattern on the fabric first

Stages and types of wax application:

a. drawing or stamping klowong. This step is the first of series of application of wax and this will be the foundation of the batik itself. For sogan (black-brown batik) the area that is covered by this klowong would be the area that will be dyed brown. There are two stages of this step. First is the ngengerengan stage and then secondly we’ll have the nerusi stage. It just means that in the second stage we block the area on the opposite side of the fabric.

b. Nembok and nerusi’. Nembok can directly be translated to ‘walled’ means we cover/block the fabric that had already gone through the klowongan step with stronger wax. This area covered with the stronger wax was meant to be left without colour. This stage involves covering the surface, giving accent and drawing ‘isen’ and ‘cecek’ .

Canting Stamp/cap

(14)

c. Covering ‘bironi’ or ‘merining’. So that the area that’s already dyed certain colour wouldn’t be absorbing other colour. This stage is done after the wax was removed from the fabric but before the fabric is soaked in the last dye bath.

d. Jeblok stamp. What it is referring to is that if the klowong and nemblok stage are not separated, we need to do this jeblok stamp to cover the area that will be coloured brown or be left without colour. This step is usually used if we’re making batik with lorodan technique.

e. Win Batik Painting. This is the most recent development in the technique used in applying wax. This method has emerged as a side effect of the development of batik pattern into a more modern and abstract style. So instead of using canting or stamp, now we can use brush to apply the wax. Only people with arts/ painting skills can do this type of wax application. And the batik made with this technique will then be called ‘free-form batik’, ‘modern batik’, or ‘new style batik’.

(15)

2. Dyeing/colouring process

• Fabric that has wax applied on it will then be dyed so that the bare area will be coloured and the covered area will not be subjected to this colour.

• These are the types of dyeing process involved:

a. ‘wedel’ : applying blue-black dye on the fabric after klowong and tembok stage. For batik sogan ‘kerokan’ this is the first colour applied to the fabric. Types of materials and chemicals used in this blue-black dyeing process:

- organic colouring from the leaves of indigo-fern. As this dye isnt as strong and is slow in leaving the colour on fabric, if we use this dye, we need to dip the fabric into the dye numerous time.

- Indigo synthethic : chemical version of the first dye. Dipping method used is the same as if we use the normal indigo.

(16)

b. Base colour bath : Instead of going through the wedel dyeing process, colourful batik like pekalongan and cirebon batik will be given other colours dye bath like green, red, purple, yellow, orange and other colours as base colour. After going through this process, so that the colour wouldn’t be covered by other colour we need to apply wax onto it again. Because of this, we need dye that has a strong resistant like indigosol, napthol or indanthreen dye.

c. ‘Gadung’ process’ : it refers to colouring method in which dye mixture will be spilled/ sprayed onto the fabric that is spread out on a table. Tho we will be able to use less dye in this process, as the dye mixture will be spread out (after being spilled on the fabric) by brushing it on the fabric, the end result might not be even. This process is used by crafter from pekalongan to dye sarong batik or ‘bouquet’ batik.

(17)

e. ‘soga process’ : it is an application of brown colour onto batik. For batik from Jogja and Solo, this is the last colouring process. In the past, crafter used organic dye from the bark of soga tree (this is where the term ‘soga’ originated). However, nowadays we use synthetic dyeing agent like soga ergan, soga chroom, soga kopel, naphtol, indigosol and some other mixture of the above mentioned agents.

Indigosol

Naphthol

(18)

3. Breaking the wax process

(19)

4. Wax Removal Process

There are two ways of removing the wax .

1. partial removal :

removing the wax at desired area by scraping the wax with tools like knives ‘kerik’. For sogan batik from Solo and Jogja,this is done to the fabric after the wedel (blue black dye application) process. This is done so that the area in which wax is removed would receive the soga (brown) colour.

2. Full removal:

there are two types of full wax removal:

- one that is done in the middle of the batik process ‘lorod’. With this process, there will not be ‘kerok’ process, but instead, for areas with colour that’s meant to be covered, these areas will be covered in wax again. This method is used in making banyumasan and pekalongan batik.

(20)

With all the above mentioned methods and processes there are

a number of different ways to make batik like:

1. Scraping process (kerokan).

2. Removal of wax process (nglorod).

3. Bedesan process.

(21)

BATIK KEROKAN

Udan Liris Parang Rusak Barong

(22)

BATIK KEROKAN

The order in which this method is run through is as followed:

1. the white fabric is cut according to desired sizing and then having the edges sewed.

2. The fabric then is prepared (ketel, starch then kemplong)

3. Wax applied to the fabric (klowongan process)

4. Wax applied to the fabric by blocking desired area (tembok process)

5. Blue black colour is applied to the fabric (medel dyeing process)

6. Partial removal of wax by scraping some of the wax with knives (kerik process).

7. Covering the area that is coloured blue black with wax, and fixing some wax block so that there will not be fracture lines (bironi and nyulami process).

8. Soaking the fabric in the brown (soga) dye bath (soga process).

(23)

BATIK LORODAN

Batik

Kesikan

(24)

BATIK LORODAN

3. Wax applied to the fabric (klowongan and tembok process) by using jeblok wax that doesn’t break easily.

5. Fully removing the wax by immersing it in hot water (nglorod process).

6. Preparing the fabric by starching and ngemplong. (so that the surface fabric will be soft and is easier to have wax applied on it again and at the end be easier to remove the wax fully.)

7. Covering the area that is coloured blue black with wax, and fixing some wax block so that there will not be fracture lines (bironi and nyulami process). 8. Soaking the fabric in the brown (soga) dye bath (soga process).

9. Full removal of wax by immersing the fabric in hot boiling water (mbabar process).

(25)

BATIK BEDESAN

This method that is used to make batik sogan bedesan is a

quicker method to make batik using steel stamp method.

The sequence in which this process is done is a reverse of ones

we mentioned before and doesn’t have the kerik/nglorod, and

bironi stage.

(26)

BATIK BEDESAN

3. Wax applied to the fabric (tembok process) by using the stamp method using jeblok wax.

4. Soaking the fabric in the brown (soga) dye bath (soga process). The dye agent used is one that is resistant to any wax spill.

5. Wax applied to the fabric (klowong process) by using the stamp method using jeblok wax to cover the areas that are designed to be coloured brown. 6. Blue black colour is applied to the fabric (medel dyeing process). But as the

uncovered fabric has already received brown dye, this area will later become black.

7. Full removal of wax by immersing the fabric in hot boiling water (mbabar process).

(27)

BATIK RADIOAN

This method is another quick ‘stamp’ process and is intended to make low

to medium quality batik. There exist a step of ruining the colour or

bleaching colour (to make them white).

So the brown dye used is one that can be bleached but at the same time is

resistant to wax spill (soga ergan).

A character of batik made using this ‘radio’ method is that we wouldn’t find

the colour black in the batik as there is no brown on top of blue-black

colour unless during the medel process instead of using blue-black, black

is used. This method is not that popular as it uses dye and bleach that are

foreign to batik crafters who live in the rural area.

(28)

BATIK RADIOAN

3. Soaking the fabric in the brown (soga ergan) dye bath (soga process). 4. Fabric then will be starched and underwent the ngemplong process

5. Wax applied to the fabric (klowongan process) to cover area that is intended to be left brown.

6. Bleaching the fabric so that area that isn’t covered by wax will lose the colour.

7. Wax applied to the fabric (tembok process) by using the stamp method so that this covered area will stay without colour.

9. Fully removing the wax by immersing it in hot boiling water (nglorod process).

(29)

BATIK PEKALONGAN

This type of batik usually comes as a sarung, for its unusual

pattern, special method is used to make batik Pekalongan. In

sarung batik, approximately a quarter of the fabric will have

pattern that differs from the rest of the batik. This part of the

sarung is called the head or ‘sorot’ of the sarung.

(30)

BATIK PEKALONGAN

3. ‘Rengsi’ stage. The white fabric will be stamped or have wax applied to it with canting with pattern of bouquet, then followed with its ‘tembok’ in which the base and area that will be left without colour is covered with wax

4. ‘colet’ stage’. This is a dyeing process that’s been mentioned above in which dye is applied to the fabric by using brush. After this fabric is washed and after dried up, the area that’s cover with ‘colet’ colour will be covered with wax

5. first dye bath. This is done to apply the base colour into the fabric. The head part of the sarung will be covered in wax.

6. Fully removing the wax by immersing it in hot boiling water (nglorod process). At the end of this stage, the batik will be half finished.

7. Covering the area that is intended to be coloured (through colet and first dye bath) and area that is left without colour with wax (similar to bironi process) 8. Second dye bath. Fabric is soaked in dye bath with colour that is different

from the first colour or we can use yellow soga.

(31)

BATIK KALIMANTAN

•

In terms of batik development, kalimantan joined this later than

their Javanese counterpart. However batik from Kalimantan has

its own pattern and colour palatte.

•

Batik Kalimantan is made using a very simplistic method and

this is in line with the kind of fabric and dyeing agent that are

available in those area.

•

Batik from this area mainly uses ‘kawung’ pattern while in

terms of colour scheme it mainly uses just the brown (soga)

colour.

Batik

(32)

BATIK KALIMANTAN

1. Stamping the white fabric with wax.

After the white fabric is prepared (cut, washed, sarched and flattened), the fabric will then be stamped with one kind of wax. The mixture used is comparately simple as it only uses paraffin that is mixed with bee wax.

2. Brown (soga) dye bath.

After the application of wax, the fabric is soaked in dye bath that is made from organic material. The soaking process is done numerous time until the desired sharpness is reached.

3. Nglorod process.

The wax is fully removed by immersing fabric into boiling water.

(33)

BATIK KELENGAN

•Batik kelengan is batik that only has one colour, blue-black. So in the process of making this batik, after the white fabric is stamped with wax, it will just undergo one colouring process which is the ‘wedel’ process. After this, the fabric will undergo ‘nglorod’ process and after that the batik is ready to be stored or distributed.

•This method of making batik is one of the oldest method, probably slightly more modern than ‘simbut’ method in which white fabric is painted with glutionous rice starch then soaked in blue-black colour bath, and when the starch is removed, we will find a blue-black fabric with white pattern.

•Perhaps in the past, before batik technique is developed as we know it know, batik kelengan might have been the most sophisticated method there was. Some of the pattern like ‘klengenan truntum’ still has some loyal follower. A more modern variation to this methos is called ‘batik ganefo’ (around 1964) in which instead of using blue-black colour, the crafters used colours like red, green, purple and the likes and applying patterns that are suitable for clothing purposes like shirt or skirt.

(34)

BATIK KELENGAN

1. Stamping the white fabric with wax.

After the white fabric is prepared (cut, washed, sarched and flattened), the fabric will then be stamped with wax.

2. Medel process. (blue-black dye bath).

After the application of wax, the fabric is soaked in dye bath that is made from organic material (from indigo-fern). The soaking process is done numerous time until the desired sharpness is reached.

3. Nglorod process.

The wax is fully removed by immersing fabric into boiling water.

(35)

BATIK MONOCHROME

•

This type of batik is similar to klengenan batik, only it uses

colours like red, violet, green and the likes (just like batik

ganefo).

•

This type of batik is used for skirt, shirt and table cloths.

(36)

KAIN JUMPUTAN

•At a glance, kain jumputan looks like batik in which it uses wax as a colour

resistant agent. However it is not the case, as to get certain parts of the fabric to be resistant to the colouring process, these areas will be tied with a rope.

•Before fabric is soaked into the dye bath, the areas that are intended to not be coloured will be pulled ‘jumput’ and then tied with a rope. The covered area will be immune to the colouring process. After going through the dyeing process, the centre of the area that was tied with rope will then be coloured using ‘colet’ method.

•One characteristic of this type of batik is that the border between the coloured and white part of the fabric will not be straight lines, but instead will be wavy.

(37)

BATIK BECAK

•This batik refers to a period of struggle against foreign colonialisation. As batik becak is part of the history of batik indonesia as a whole, we will touch on the history of it a little bit.

•Batik Becak started around 1943-1945, when Indonesia was at the brink of its independence under japanese colonialisation. At that time, food and clothing were scarce, and for that reason there emerged a type of batik with lower quality than that is of under normal condition. Instead of using white ‘mori’ fabric, batik becak used a rough white fabric called ‘keci’ with measurement of width 91 cm and length of 182 cm.

•After being stamped with one type of low quality wax (usually paraffin), fabric will then be soaked in dye bath and then having the wax removed fully using nglorod method. Batik becak only has one colour, either blue or red. As the width of the fabric used is shorter than one used as women’s kain, for taller women, fabric needs to be added to the width by sewing. While for men, batik becak has to be made into sarung eventhough the pattern used is not of sarung pattern.

(38)

MODERN BATIK

•

What is refered to here as ‘modern batik’ is all the type of batik in

which pattern and style do not fall under the traditional norm. With

traditional batik, the sequences of the pattern are bound by certain

connection with specific fillers. If we divert the pattern, style or filler

from this norm, we can no longer call it batik traditional.

(39)

MODERN BATIK

In the following year, some of the more modern batik crafters, artists had played a part in the development of this modern batik, so that as a result, there are a couple of different type of modern batik, namely:

1. the dynamic abstract style, for example depicting flying bird, the trajectory of an arrow, bouquet of flower, rooster fight, blown gun, and the likes.

2. Combination style : mix and match of different styles and patterns from different areas to make a beautiful combination.

3. Painting style: this is similar to canvas painting, like scenery, architecture with fillers that are artsy.

(40)

(41)