A Yogyakarta craftsman gives teeth artistic touch

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Go to local souvenir shops. There, you will find extensive handicrafts made out of different materials like wood, dried flower, clay or recycled paper.

A resident in Nogotirto village, Sleman regency, Saryanto, decided to give teeth his artistic touch. For almost 10 years now the man has been supporting his family by producing and selling souvenir items made out of cow and horse teeth.

"Thank God, now I can build my own house after living in rented houses for years," the 34-year-old man said referring to his two-story house built on a plot of land he purchased several years ago.

His business has also allowed the father of two to buy equipment, such as lathes and drills, and employ six staff.

"I hope my business will always stay good so I will be able to keep paying my children's school fees," said Saryanto who plans to send his children to university.

When business is good, Saryanto's demand of raw material -- raw processed teeth -- can reach up to 150 kilograms a month. But when business slows, he only needs 50 kilograms of raw teeth.

Saryanto said a kilogram of raw teeth usually consisted of 250 to 300 teeth and could make up to 100 sets of necklaces of varying designs. Saryanto makes necklaces with one, three teeth or five teeth.

A necklace with a single tooth is sold for Rp 1,000, Rp 1,500 with three teeth and Rp 2,000 with five teeth. He also produces earrings made of a single tooth that he sells for Rp 500 each. "I only make this as a special order for a sculptor in Jakarta. He uses the earrings for accessories for his sculptures," Saryanto said.

Born in Salamrejo, Kulonprogo regency, Yogyakarta, Saryanto said he started the tooth business by accident.

The inspiration came after he saw someone wearing a unique leather necklace with an animal tooth as a pendant.

"It seemed to be a good business for me at that time," said Saryanto, who had been going through a bad patch which included a traffic accident and six-month lay up, and a slow leather souvenir business with his friend.

But the new business did not come easy. At that time, animal teeth were not easy to find. Only after a hard effort, he finally collected a kilogram of raw teeth and produced 100 necklaces.

"To my surprise, I could sell them all in less than a week. Other souvenirs of the same number would need more than a month to sell out," Saryanto recalled.

Realizing the good market, he then began hunting down animal teeth throughout the city, going from one slaughterhouse to another. He even went as far as Bandung, West Java, to buy more.

"At that time, cow or horse teeth were just neglected. Then, all of the sudden, they were asked to collect and sell them to me. That's why they ignored my order in the beginning. But then I offered them Rp 3,000 for a kilogram of teeth though they only asked for Rp 2,500 per kilogram. With the offer, I just wanted to convince them I was serious with my order," Saryanto said. Now, he had to spend Rp 12,000 for a kilogram of raw teeth and the transportation fee.

Preparing the teeth was the most time consuming step in creating the necklaces, he said.

The raw teeth were first boiled for three to four hours. Then, chlorine was added to help separate the remains of meat from the teeth's root. The boiled teeth were then left soaked in the water for a night before they were washed twice using detergent.

"We have to do so to prevent the teeth from smelling," he said.

The next step was drying the teeth under the sun for two consecutive days until they were dry and bright white.

"Then they are ready to be further processed," Saryanto said.

The next step was creating a hole through the teeth using a small drill before combining them with beads of different colors using nylon cords.

At present, Saryanto's merchandise could not only be found in Yogyakarta but also in other cities like Jakarta and Surabaya. Some foreign art shop owners including those from the U.S., Korea, and Spain, according to Saryanto, also bought his products. "I don't know how much they sell the souvenirs I created there, but I sell my products at the same prices for them," Saryanto said.