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The announcement of the 2021 International Batik Design Competition Winners

Batik

BATIK

Batik has legitimately become one of the cultural assets of Indonesia since designated by UNESCO on October 2, 2009, as part of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As a piece of typical Indonesian art produced through the resist dye technique, batik is a work of art that has deep symbolic meaning and message. Through a long history, traditional batik designs, as well as their production processes, preserve the values of local wisdom still present in the life philosophy of Indonesian people.

 

BATIK AS A TECHNIQUE

Batik can be best defined as a textile dyeing technique with a resist dye process where the design patterns to be eternalized are covered with malam or melted beeswax by using a traditional tool called canting or other tools. The colors of the cloth area protected by malam will remain even after being overwritten with other colors. After the drawn pattern is sequentially waxed, dyed in several different colors, and later undergone the process of malam removing or lorod, the expected harmonious color combination will appear. Basically, there is no limit to the number of colors in a batik design as its coloring can be adjusted to dyeing or colet (dabbing) techniques. During its development, there were 3 variations of batik making techniques, namely batik tulis (hand-drawn), batik cap (stamped), and batik printing (printed). Batik tulis, which is selected to be the referred technique in this batik design competition, is the traditional and original technique of batik making whose drawing process uses canting to make typical manual hand scratches appear. Meanwhile, the other two techniques, batik cap and batik printing are developed techniques utilizing prints to be repeatedly used to shorten the manufacturing process.

 

CANTING

Canting is a tool used to take, store, and inscribe hot molten wax onto the fabric. Like writing using a pen filled with ink, the canting is moved in such a way that the design patterns can be hand-written or drawn on the cloth. Canting appears in various types according to the number and size of the hole. In terms of size, canting generally consists of canting reng-rengan, canting isen, canting klowong, and canting tembok. Canting reng-rengan has a hole size with a diameter of about 1 to 2.5 mm, and is used to apply the initial pattern. Canting isen has a hole with a diameter of about 0.5 to 1.5 mm, and is used to make detailed patterns or motifs. Canting klowong has a wider diameter and is used to apply the main pattern. While canting tembok has the widest hole of all types of canting because it is used to block or cover large areas of cloth with wax. The combination of the use of several cantings can create harmonization of thick and thin patterns applied to the fabric.

 

PATTERN

In general, traditional batik patterns consist of two types, namely geometric and non-geometric. The former patter involves identified shapes, such as circles, triangles, rectangles, and so on. Traditional decorations that include geometric motifs are cêplok, kawung, banji, anyaman, limar, parang, and udan liris. Meanwhile, non-geometric patterns include decorative designs with non-identified shapes. Ornaments in this type of pattern usually consist of simplifications of nature, like plants and animals, and other highly decorative objects as found in semen, meru, pohon hayat, and garuda motifs. In its application, both types of patterns can appear in freestyle or repeating patterns to decorate the entire area of the fabric. In its development, batik patterns and designs can develop in consort with the imagination and creativity of its craftsmen or artists.