Learning how to make batik the Balinese way

Damaso Reyes, Contributor, Ubud, Bali

If Santa Claus was Balinese, he may well be artist and teacher I Nyoman Suradnya who bears more than a passing resemblance to the jolly man in the red suit, although Nyoman prefers a sarong.

There may be as many places to learn batik, the traditional Indonesian art form for making textiles, as there are places to eat nasi goreng (fried rice), but it is hard to imagine one more fun than Suradnya's compound in Ubud.

A painter as well as a batik artist, Nyoman, as he insists on being called, has been teaching the art of batik for over 25 years in places as diverse as the United States, Australia and Singapore. As an artist who began by working in oils and watercolors, Nyoman came to batik well into his training as an artist.

"For me batik began as an extracurricular activity," Nyoman said while smiling and smoking a kretek (clove cigarette). "I fancied someone in school and she wanted to take a batik class," he added, arching his eyebrows and laughing.

The difference in medium opened up a whole new world for the then young artist. "There are a whole lot of colors I can get in batik that I can't get in oil or watercolor," he said, explaining the differences between the mediums.

"Batik is very good for chilling out when I need a break from oil or watercolor." For Nyoman, batik is what he calls "meditation in action".

"You need to focus your mind and body in the here and now," he said while looking over the work of a student in one of his classes. "Doing batik is the same as doing meditation. You have to be aware of your breathing and your actions. There is a kind of instant karma, you can burn yourself or make quite a mess if you aren't focused."

The process of batik is so simple that Nyoman offers one day classes in his "hit-and-run" technique. At the core of batik is applying hot wax to fabric and dying the fabric in different colors. Each time you add a layer of wax to a different part of the fabric, that part will resist all the other dyes that are applied. The artist dips a canting (wooden copper-tipped pen) into a pot of wax, which is usually bee's wax mixed with tree sap. The small well of the pen narrows into a diminutive hole from which the melted wax meets the fabric. Within a few minutes, even the least artistic person can get the hang of the process, which does indeed require intense concentration.

While applying the hot wax everything else seems to melt away as you trace the pencil lines of your design that you sketched earlier. Once you complete the outline of your design, you add the appropriate color of dye with a paintbrush. After that you place a binding agent to protect the dye from the layer of wax that will be placed over it to protect it from the rest of the process. The process is repeated for each color and then finally the fabric is dipped entirely in the background dye which will be absorbed by the fabric that does not have wax on it.

Within the short space of a few hours, during which there is a break for lunch and if you are lucky Nyoman will prepare it himself, your very own batik painting will emerge from the cleaning solution.

Throughout it all, Nyoman and his team of assistants guide the new artists through the process, providing suggestions and technical help. He claims that anyone, from six to 70 years old, can learn batik although he does vary what he teaches to the needs of his students.

"As long as they are willing to be in the present time and allow their hands to be projections of their hearts they can do it," he said.

"It (teaching batik) is about using the correct water and fertilizer. I am only teaching them the ABCs. If they then want to write a book, they already know the alphabet."

In addition to teaching classes about once a week, Nyoman runs a boardinghouse with six rooms within his compound of four buildings where he and his family live as well as a dog and at least a dozen birds who are more than happy to serve as an alarm clock for you in the morning.

"I am glad to share our lives, it's good for people to come and share a Balinese family's life," he said. "People don't get this experience staying at a hotel," he added.

i-BOX:

Nirvana Gallery and Pension Jl. Gautama 10, Banjar Padantegal Kaja, Ubud, Bali. Tel 62-361 975415 or 977624. rodanet@denpasar.wasantara.net.id Courses range from one day classes at US$35 per person to five-day courses at $25 per person per day.