'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.