SMK Negeri 4 Jakarta SMK Unggul Pembentuk SDM Bermutu
2 October has been declared as Batik Day since UNESCO acknowledge batik as Indonesian Cultural Heritage in 2009 in which our neighbor country still claims our culture heritages including Batik.
From wikipedia, the word’s origin is Javanese, its etymology may be either from the Javanese amba (‘to write’) and titik (‘dot’ or ‘point’). Batik (/ˈbætɪk/ or /bəˈtiːk/; Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ]; Indonesian: [ˈbatɪk]) is a cloth that is traditionally made using a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. It refers to a technique of making pattern that could only be created by means of the canting (also spelled tjanting or tjunting; pronounced [ˌtʃanˈtiŋ]) tool. This is like a pen that holds a small reservoir of hot wax. It can only applies in natural cloth such as cotton, silk and wool and it can’t be applied in polyester.
History of Indonesian Batik
Batik is believed that it has been developed since 17th century written on palm leaves. At that time, the most common batik pattern were animals and flowers or nature. Nowadays, there are so many batik pattern such as, Candi relief, folklore, wayang beber, and even clouds. Moreover, Batik is also applied in different material of clothing and other form of arts.
The wide variety of pattern and motifs in batik is influenced by each different regions culture in Indonesia. The motifs are inspired by their own traditions and their people everyday live.
Indonesian batik has been developed since Majapahit and Mataram sultanate of central Java which spread around Solo and Jogjakarta. Batik is an art form of Javanese royalty at that time. Historically, batik is made only for the royal family. Since it was made by the commoner, gradually it spreads outside the Javanese court. It becomes people’s fine art.
The cloth is woven by themselves and it only can be applied in silk and cotton material because it can absorb the wax applying in the dye process. The colors are made from nature such as mengkudu, soga and nila.
Happy Batik Day !! I love Batik.
Source: sejarah batik
