'Lontar' leaves make beautiful flowers

'Lontar' leaves make beautiful flowers

By Bambang Tiong

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Some people say that lontar (palmyra palm)
leaves are useless. But in the hands of Yuli Indarti they are
processed in such a way as to yield a fair amount of foreign
exchange. Palmyra trees, along with their fruit known as siwalan,
grow in abundance in coastal areas, especially in the eastern
part of Java. Yuli's creativity has led her to use palmyra leaves
to make handicrafts in the form of imitation flowers like
lotuses, sunflowers and orchids.

Yuli, 36, says she orders palmyra leaves from East Java where
they are abundant, cheap and of a high quality. To further reduce
the cost of the raw material she asks her employees, who
originate from East Java, to make the purchases in that region.
They bring back scores of bundles of palmyra leaves for the price
of Rp 100,000.

"The leaves are not expensive, but their transportation is
difficult" says Yuli. In order to yield the best handicrafts, the
basic material must be of good quality.

Three-month old budding leaves must be obtained. They must be
green and not damaged, torn or folded. In making flowers from
palmyra leaves a number of steps must be observed. At the start
the buds must be opened. This is in order that the leaves are not
covered with mold. The leaves are dried in the sun so the leaves
become whitish. In order to avoid wasting raw material, large
leaves are used for making large flowers, e.g. the lotus. Small
leaves are accordingly made into small flowers.

Cutting is done next, with a sharp knife or a cutter and is
followed by dyeing. Yuli says cutting must take place before
dyeing because otherwise white spots will appear on the leafs and
mar the beauty of the flowers. The dyed leaves are then left in
the sun until they are very dry.

Rattan and bamboo are used in the next stage, the making of
the stems. Wood glue is used to stick leaves on to them. String
made of flax serves to bind the flowers to the stems. In order to
harmonize the colors the stems must be made in such a way that
their color approaches the original one. Therefore dried banana
stems are used. After the flowers have been neatly arranged, a
sheath is made for them using coconut fibers and glue as the
adhesive.

In her business, which is based in Yogyakarta, Yuli is
assisted by 60 workers, mostly women. She pays her workers
according to the number of products finished.

"I give them the raw material. They do the work at home," she
says. They need 20 minutes to finish one flower. They get paid Rp
500 to Rp 1,000, according to the size of the flower and its
degree of difficulty to make. On average a worker can make
between 10 and 15 flowers a day. The total number of flowers
produced per day is between 600 and 900. This kind of work takes
some getting used to; Yuli has to train each worker for about one
week.

Widagdo, 28, one of the flower makers, said he was formerly
skillless and jobless. After two years of work he enjoys a good
income which enables him to own a motorcycle, although he is
still paying for it through installments.

The imitation flowers, which are sold between Rp 750 and Rp
1,500 a piece, according to their size and intricacy, are bought
by traders from Semarang, Surakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta
itself. Foreign markets already penetrated include Egypt,
Australia, France, Norway, Japan and Germany. She says that from
the many types of flowers sold, the most popular are the lotus
and the sunflower. Yuli delivers her orders by a parcel delivery
service.

The business started at the end of 1996 with a capital of just
Rp 50,000. It now has a turnover of Rp 50 million, grossing a
profit of about 20 percent. Yuli says that she is happy, not only
because of the profit she makes but even more so because she
has succeeded in providing work for the people of her community.