Print batik finally gains popularity among youths
Print batik finally gains popularity among youths
By Tiwi and Erry
YOGYAKARTA (JP): For decades, batik cap (print batik) has been
considered "second class" and less worthy than batik tulis (hand-
made batik).
Batik tulis has become the attire of aristocrat and the
wealthy, not only because the material is of better quality, but
it is seen as a symbol of their social status, owing to its high
price.
Batik tulis is not affordable for most people, a fact which
upset batikmaker Sofia Soetardjo. She was afraid someday
traditional batik motifs would perish because the younger
generation were no longer aware of them.
This apprehension gave her a clever idea: making print batik
using the "manual method" instead of a machine. Making print
batik is faster and easier than making batik tulis, and she is
able to sell the products at lower prices.
"I want to see the young wear batik clothes. It doesn't matter
if they choose modern or traditional motifs," she explained.
To make "manual" print batik, she uses canting cap, a copper
plate used in batik-making.
Since 1968, Sofia have collected more than 1,000 canting cap
with a wide variety of motifs. Her collection is probably the
largest in Java. She got them from her relatives, parents-in-law
and sometimes she purchased them from bankrupt batik producers.
She has a large warehouse to store her collection and hopes to
open a batik museum in Yogyakarta someday.
Making a good print batik requires experience, patience and
perseverance.
"A good print batik has certain characteristics, such as
sharpness of color and precision of motif composition," Sofia
says. "It is difficult to find a good batik printer. Only one of
five applicants is qualified and admitted," she recalls of her
efforts to recruit workers.
Print batik motifs include tubruk, onde-onde, parang,
mubeng and mlampah sareng. Apart from attire, Sofia also makes
household linen from print batik, including table clothes,
bedsheets and curtains.
She says she is relieved to see many youths wearing batik with
traditional motifs.
The most popular motifs are sekarjagad, kawung sisik,
ceplok sisik, ceplok urang, kawung klathak, grompol
and nitik wonokromo. Some organizations such as Bank Rakyat
Indonesia require their employees to wear batik for their
uniforms -- something which helps popularize print batik.
For coloring, Sofia uses both natural substances and synthetic
substances. But she said people like the natural vat dyes better,
such as srigading (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis), indigofera, morinda
fruit and root (Morinda citrifolia), cashew leaf (Annacardium
occidentale) and teak (Tectona grandis).
To get a rustic feel, Sofia uses substances like lime powder,
alum and tunjung. When she held an exhibition here last August,
she brought an enormous collection of print batik, all of which
was sold.
"I was wrong to think that people do not love print batik with
natural coloring," she says.