Batik is more than just a dressy fabric; it is an integral part of Indonesia’s history.
Batik is now famous worldwide, and as the world has become more modern, the ways to make it have become more varied.
Here are the must-have tools for batik for people who want to learn how to make it or are new to the world of batik.
1. Fabric
Mori cloth is the main thing that needs to be ready for batik, especially if you want to make written batik.
Mori cloth is white because it is made of cotton that has been breached.
Mori cloth has also been put into a special category. There are three kinds of mori cloth: blue mori cloth, prime mori cloth, and primisima mori cloth.
For the batik process, you should try primisima mori fabric if you want the best and highest quality.
Mori fabric also absorbs much color during the dying process, but primisima mori fabric absorbs less than other mori fabric.
In addition to mori fabrics, silk fabrics, gray fabrics, rayon fabrics, and so on can all be used for batik.
2. Canting
In the batik process, canting is a compulsory tool, which is a tool similar to a pen and functions primarily as a tool for painting motifs on the fabric.
Canting consists of three parts: the handle, nyamplung and cucuk.
The handle is the base the batik craftsman holds in the batik process and is usually made of bamboo or wood.
Nyamplung is the container where the wax/night is placed, then cucuk is the end of the curved hose-like canting that drains the night from the nyamplung.
Usually, the cucuk part of the canting is made of copper and comes in different sizes.
Canting as a night incisor to become a pattern on the fabric also consists of several types: canting tembok, canting cecek, and canting klowong.
3. Small Stove and Frying Pan
In addition to canting, a small stove and a pan are must-have tools and should not be left behind.
Both have the primary function of heating the night so that later the night can stick to the fabric more easily during the painting process.
4. Dyes
In making batik, natural and synthetic/artificial dyes can be used as needed.
Natural dyes are usually taken from natural materials, such as jalawe bark for a slightly green-brown color, turmeric and secang for yellow, and indigofera for blue.
Mangosteen rind is also often used as a natural dye that produces a bluish-purple color in batik.
Some use shallots for orange-brown color, tea leaves for producing brown color only, and kelama fruit which forms a slightly creamy brown color.
Synthetic/artificial dyes are made from chemicals with a variety of colors tailored for the use of painting batik cloth.
Remasol, indigosol and napthol are the three main chemicals that make up synthetic dyes for the batik process.
5. Tubs / Buckets
Batik craftsmen also need a container that can be used as a place to dip colors.
Therefore, a bucket or tub is considered essential equipment as a color dipping container when making batik.
6. Wax
Night or special wax for batik is also one of the main materials because batik craftsmen need to paint the night/wax first on the cloth.
Batik craftsmen usually make motif patterns using pencils by drawing them first on the fabric.
After making a picture of the motif pattern with a pencil, the craftsman only paints the night/wax according to the existing motif pattern.
After painting using night material, the new craftsman gives coloring to the cloth.
Penorehan wax must use canting to stick or adhere to the fabric perfectly.
Different batik motifs and patterns will be produced from the second process, unique and beautiful.
7. Filter
Batik craftsmen also need to prepare a filter, a tool used for wax.
The wax must be melted before the craftsman paints it on the cloth, but after melting, the wax needs to be filtered first.
8. Pendulum
The pendulum is a weight tool that batik craftsmen use to hold the batik cloth that is being worked on.
The pendulum used in the batik process is generally heavy because it is made of wood, iron or other materials.
To prevent the cloth from moving quickly or shifting so that there is a risk of crossing out the painting and making mistakes, the pendulum is used as a cloth holder.
9. Gawangan
The equipment for making batik also includes gawangan, which is a bamboo or wooden tool that serves to support the batik process.
Gawangans generally, especially in ancient times, had decorations on the top in the form of carvings.
The carvings on the top of the gawangan appear to be in the form of certain motifs, which can be plants or dragons.
The equipment for batik basically consists of these nine essential tools, whether batik cloth is used to make clothes, paintings, bags, or other forms of crafts.
The equipment is used as a maker of written batik, because printed batik is a type of batik cloth made using a stamp tool and the equipment is not the same as making written batik.