Ibu Entur is a lady who started creating Batik in this region (named Majalengka). She said she did so in order to be able to employ old people of her village who can't really work in other, tiring jobs such as farming. She had a bad story with the local governement who asked her to make batik for their uniforms but had a lot of requirement such as official papers and fabric quality. She went through all of this and invested money, all of this for nothing because the governement took her design and gave it to another factory for printing (!). So apparently she is not doing so good, that is also a reason why Arie sent me there, see if I could do anything. Next to batik she also teaches to people who did not pass their school diploma and therefore can't work. She has the aility to give them the diploma. And her house is filled with children, she has game for them and I think she does kindergrten at home. There are also cows and chickens...it is a lively and pleasant place to stay!

diplomas on the floor...might be the paper in vain for the governemnt request

lively place

coffee for workers, isn't it international?

The Batik 'factory'

material

washing area

boiling and color bath area

printing area

Day 1 : making pattern with stamps and wax

stamps : there are made in another city are quite expansive. Price vary according to the difficulty of the design, but is approximately of 2 millions roupies, that is to say 120 euros

preparing the table : making wet layers

first textile then thick paper from some flour bag, and finishing with a specific plastic, very thin

the wax melting and the stamp

stamping ; there is always a thiner stamps for decoration line, then the main pattern

the patterns are linked

left-over patterns on the table

Day2 : coloring ; yes it is all hand painted!

measuring chemical

mixing with water

result not so friendly

DIY brushes : textile, wire and wood

stating with a layer of the yellow component. Let it dry. It reacts to the other ink and makes visible and lasting

she was making the blues and I the reds

one day work

they also have silkscreen for printing batik

the most surprising is that the screen also is varnished by hand!!

the amount of wok on one screen is unthinkinable

Day3 : "canting" covering the colored parts with wax

again, working with hot wax

those are the tools. you need to fill them with wax, empty them and keep only a tiny bit. So a lot of go and come back.

there is no way to close the tap of the tools. If one drop falls on the wrong place, you have a white spot on your textile. That is why it is so long

A lot of focuse and very long process. In one day I went halfway

Learning bonus : buras (rice stuffed in banana leave)

in the kitchen

folding it requires experience. They quickly wash and burn the leaves to make them fold easier

we made A LOT of them. I learned afterwards they were to be given at some chief village election, by one of the candidate, as promotion....

does this not look great?