Although the word's origin is Javanese, its etymology may be either from the Javanese amba ('to write') and titik ('dot' or 'point'), or constructed from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian root *beCík, meaning 'to tattoo' from the use of a needle in the process. The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms: mbatek, mbatik, batek and batik. Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Visnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural dyes are most commonly available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the cloth he or she was wearing.
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| Batik from Solo |
Batik is a craft that has high artistic value and has become part of the culture of Indonesia (especially Java) since long. Javanese women in the past made their skills in batik for a living, so in the past, batik work is exclusively women's work until discovery of "Batik Stamp" which allows the entry of men into the field. There are some exceptions to this phenomenon, that is the coastal batik masculine lines as can be seen in shades of "Mega Mendung", which in some coastal areas batik work is common for men.
The tradition of batik was originally a hereditary tradition, so that occasionally a recognizable motif batik originated from a particular family. Some batik may indicate the status of a person. Even today, some traditional 'batik pattern is only used by the family palace of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
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| Batik for traditional dance | |
Batik Making Process :
Before stamped, usually mori washed first with water until the starch is lost original and clean, then starched again. Motif batik should be coated with a starch with a certain thickness, if too thick wax will stick less well and if too thin then the wax will mblobor which will be difficult to remove. With the highest quality Mori [Primisima] does not need to be starched again, because the thickness of the kanji already qualified.
Usually, only the necessary smooth mori need dikemplong first before dibatik. Mori blue for batik stamp, usually can be done directly without any preparatory work. The purpose of ngemplong is for mori become slippery and loose. For this purpose mori put on a chip of wood and pounded regularly by wood bat as well. Mori, which dikemplong, it's easier to dibatik so the results are better.
- Nglowong (sticking of the first wax)
After dikemplong, mori is ready to work. Batik-making techniques beginning with nglowong, that is to stamp the motifs above mori by using canting. Nglowong on the cloth is also called ngengreng and after it continued with nerusi on the other side.
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| Nglowong process with stamp |
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| Nglowong process with canting |
- Nembok (sticking of the second wax)
Before dipped into dye, the desired part to keep it white, should be covered with wax. wax layer is like a wall to hold the dye so as not to seep into the wax-covered. Therefore, this work is called menembok, if there is seepage because tembokan which is less strong, then the white should be visible colored lines that would reduce the beauty of batik. That is why the wax tembok must be strong and resilient, the other with wax klowong that actually should not be too resilient to be easily scraped.
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| Nembok Process |
- Medel (the first immersion into the dye)
The purpose of medel is giving a dark blue color as base color fabric. Relic of this work takes several days because using indigo dye [Javanese language is tom]. This dye is very slowly absorbed into the fabric, so it must be done over and over again, now with modern color material can be done quickly.
- Ngerok (removing klowong wax)
The part that will in "soga" for brown, scraped with cawuk [sort of a blunt knife is made of zinc] to remove wax.
- Mbironi (the use of the third wax)
The next job is mbironi, which consists of closure with a wax cloth parts that keep expected to blue, while the part that will be in soga still open. Mbironi job is done on two sides of the fabric.
- Menyoga (second immersion into the dye)
Menyoga is a time consuming process, because dye into soga. If using natural soga, was not just one or two times only, had to repeatedly. Each time immersion al fresco had dried. By using synthetic soga so this process can be shortened only half an hour. Menyoga term taken from the word of certain trees that produce skin color tree soga [brown] when immersed in water.
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| Menyoga process |
After getting the desired color, so fabric must be undergone a process again that is, wax are still left in mori should be removed, the way to put into boiling water, called nglorod.
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| Nglorod process |
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