Batik: Between Techniques

and Pattern Motif

Do you have batik and ever wear it? Yes, at least we have one batik shirt that we use for semi-formal or formal events. Batik is increasingly developed and favored by Indonesian people, especially after being recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage from Indonesia and then the government set October 2 as a national batik day.

When you hear the word batik for the first time, what is in your mind? Is it motif, type of fabric, or the technique? In general, people understand batik based on motif, right? According to the Indonesian Big Dictionary, batik is "a pictorial cloth that is made specifically by writing or putting the wax on the cloth, then processing it in a certain way." Based on the meaning above, it can be concluded that a cloth is called batik when there is a process of using wax in its coloring to hinder the color mixing in the desired color variation according to the pattern that has been drawn. So the batik that we wear everyday maybe not batik, or most likely only cloth with batik motif. Why is it called a batik motif? Because the motif  is widely used in fabrics with batik processes.

Then what about the claims of batik for jumput and sibori?  Jumput and Shibori do not use wax to block color, so can it be said batik? Referring to the definition in the dictionary above, the jumput and sibori cannot be said to be batik, because they do not use wax in the process. Common people that it is batik because they saw the color blocking process carried out to get the motif, such as by doing ties, folds, or even twists. Now, can you distinguish which one is batik and the other is not?

Batik is made not only on cloth but also can be made on other media such as wood. Carved wooden statues decorated with unique and distinctive motif with wax coloring technique can also be said to be batik. Batik wooden statues can be found at Yogyakarta Batik Museum, located on Dr. Sutomo Street, 13A Yogyakarta. Another batik museum reference is Ullen Sentalu, located on Boyong Street, West Kaliurang, Sleman Regency. (MLJ).