The Uniqueness of the Nusantara Written Batik, It Turns Out That This Is the Tools and Materials Used

image source: www.jnjbatik.com

 

Batik is one of Indonesia’s distinctive crafts that is proud and deserves to be preserved. Most of the regions in Indonesia have batik crafts with their own motifs. But in general, the method of making batik in each region is of course the same. The difference is the manufacturing technique.

Batik itself has many types and motifs. One of the most famous types of batik is hand-written batik. Written batik is a type of batik that only uses written canting to carve malam or wax on the mori cloth. Of course, this batik motif is very elegant and exclusive.

To get perfect batik results, tools and materials are also needed to expedite the process of making this batik. Are you curious about what tools and materials need to be prepared? Let’s look at the discussion of the following written batik tools and materials.

 

1.  Mori fabric

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This plain white cloth is the main ingredient in making hand-written batik. This cloth comes from cotton which has undergone a special classification and bleaching process. The advantage of mori cloth is that it has perfect density, thickness and smoothness and can absorb malam or wax well.

Mori cloth is divided into several types, including prima, blue, primissima, voilissima and kolissima fabrics. From this type, it will determine how good and bad the fabric is for the resulting batik.

 

2.  Malam or Candles

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To hold the color on the batik cloth, a wax or batik malam is needed. The wax will form during the coloring process and will not disappear even until the last batik process. There are 3 types of batik malam, including Tembokan, Biron and Klowong nights.

Biron wax functions is to cover the color in certain motifs that will be retained after dyeing. Meanwhile, the Tembokan candle functions is to fill a large area of ​​the pattern to obtain the blocked motif fabric. Then there is Malam Klowong which functions as the first attachment to a fabric motif that has been made or is useful for reinforcing existing patterns.

 

3.  Dye

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Batik coloring is one of the important points to get the perfect batik cloth. 2 types of dyes can be selected, namely synthetic or artificial dyes and natural dyes. Each of these dyes has its own advantages and disadvantages. However, now some batik craftsmen prefer to use synthetic dyes because they are considered easier to obtain and practical.

 

4.    Gawangan

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This tool made of wood or bamboo is useful for covering the mori cloth when making batik. Previously the gawangan had many motifs on the top. But now it is usually made simple and strong so that it makes it easier to make batik.

 

5.    Canting

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This tool is used to take the hot batik malam and then paint it onto the batik cloth pattern. The function is like a pen to paint on a cloth. There are 3 parts of the canting that have different functions, namely the handle, nyamplung and carat or tip.

 

6.   Small stove and frying pan

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Both of these tools function is to heat the batik wax with a small frying pan as a container and a small stove as a heat source as well as controlling the size of the fire.

 

So, those are some of the tools and materials needed to make hand-written batik. This process is quite time consuming, especially as a hand-written batik craftsmen usually work by hand instead of using artificial tools. If you are interested in this handmade batik, you can get it at gallerybatiktulen.com with the best price and quality.