Mask business supports Bobung economy

By R. Agus Bakti

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Almost every house in this Bobung village is filled with wooden masks. Not because they like to attend masquerades or because they are mask collectors. They make masks for sale.

Sagiman, 32, said that almost 90 percent of the villagers, including him, make wooden masks.

These villagers, who also farm, earn their money making wooden masks. In this way they have improved their standard of living without having to make themselves urban migrants.

The wooden mask handicraft in Bobung had its origin in a mask dance back in the 1960s. The masks were then made specially for the dancers.

It was not until 1970 that the making of wooden masks in this village began its rapid development. By chance, a tourist from Yogyakarta came to Bobung. Actually he only intended to go hunting and fishing. At some place in the village he came across a villager making a wooden mask. Interested, he bought some and took them back to Yogyakarta, where he sold them again.

The visit of this tourist marked the development of wooden mask making in Bobung. This activity, which is now a source of income to most Bobung villagers, began to develop further at a more rapid pace in the 1980s.

Sagiman said, "If the father in a family can make wooden masks, I can guarantee that the children have this skill too."

This wooden-mask-making skill is passed down from the older generation to the younger. The designs are taken from figures in shadow puppet stories and are therefore rich in Javanese cultural characteristics.

In fact, according to Sagiman, making a wooden mask is not too difficult. You will have to imitate the patterns available because there is a fixed standard in this respect.

Some of the standard models are come from the Ramayana epics, like Rama, Sinta, the giant and the monkey. There are a variety of designs and the masks are in three sizes, like the standard sizes of dress, namely S, M and L.

Raw material

The types of wood usually used for wooden masks are pule (Ophioxylon), sengon (Albizzia stipulate), mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) and resin (Agathis spp.)

This wood is obtained at Gunung Kidul and some other place like Purworejo and Kedu in Central Java. The wood is purchased by the truckload. One truckload will cost between Rp 1 million and Rp 1.2 million.

"Not all parts of the wood are suitable for a mask. Defective wood is used as firewood," he said, adding that generally only 75 percent of a piece of wood can be turned into a mask.

After the pieces of wood are sorted, work begins on shaping the wood in accordance with the patterns. All work is manual. The implements are simple: saws, axes, knives and chisels.

These men generally can make two medium-sized masks in a day. A more complicated model will take two days to make, though.

Wooden masks are sold at prices ranging between Rp 15,000 (less than US$2) and Rp 65,000, depending on their size and the difficulty in making them. A mask with more carving will certainly cost more.

Sagiman can earn some Rp 2 million a month from making and selling wooden masks. He runs a workshop with his brother, Mulyono, and they have about 30 people assisting them, some of whom are women.

Generally the women do the finishing work: smoothing the masks with sandpaper. Every day they can do finishing work on some 20 masks. They get Rp 300 for each mask.

A craftsman shaping the wood into a mask model will earn between Rp 2,000 and Rp 3,000 a piece. Payment is made on a lot basis.

Indeed, the wooden masks from Bobung have their own characteristics. Almost all of the masks are sill in their natural color when sold. The masks are painted only on demand.

In addition to making masks based on Javanese shadow puppet stories, Sagiman also makes, upon request, masks in new designs such as the Indian masks. In some cases, he also paints the masks using the batik coloring technique.

Now, these wooden masks from Bobung are not used only for the mask dance as they are also used as interior decoration of a house. They may be placed on the walls. It is thanks to their use as interior decoration that the masks are now in increasing demand. The masks are also popular among foreign buyers.

The marketing of these masks is quite plain sailing. A number of art shops in Yogyakarta, Bali and Jakarta are always ready to sell them. The masks have also been included in a number of exhibitions at the request of government agencies like the ministry of tourism and the ministry of industry and trade.

"Art shops market the masks abroad. I have been told that the wooden masks are mostly exported to Europe. As for me, I simply wait for an order," said Sagiman.

Interestingly, this wooden mask business seems to be closely related to the United States dollar. If the U.S. dollar rate against rupiah is up, the production is likewise up. During the monetary crisis, he could earn Rp 20 million a month. "Well, I had to cooperate with other mask makers. This is normal among us," he said.

Another interesting thing about this business is that the demand from abroad will be down in November, December and January. Despite the downtrend in demand in these three months, wooden masks continue to be made for stock.

Bobung is located on the northern side of Gunung Kidul regency. You can get there through Yogyakarta - Wonosari highway by bus and start from Yogyakarta. When you get to Sambil Pitu, you will have to go only another 2 km to the north.

It is in the span of this 2-km distance that the beautiful panorama of the Seribu mountains is on display for the traveler. A river flows calmly through the village of Bobung, demonstrating that not all parts of Gunung Kidul are barren and dry.

"A plan is now afoot to make our village a tourist destination. The sultan (Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the governor of Yogyakarta Special Region) has come here. This is really a great honor to us," he said.