Indonesian Art Catalog

Cultural Inheritance Influence to Indonesia's Abstract Wood Carvings

2011-05-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

Indonesia is one of the countries in this world blessed with a diverse culture. This culture has been passed down and preserved from generation to generation. Embedded as well into their culture are their religious duties and aspirations. These two aspects are what serve as guides for their artists in molding their art traditions. Each craft is like a form of scientific study, each requiring a systematic method for a successful output. One of their flourishing art traditions is their woodcarvings. Each piece is carefully carved and transposed into intricate designs that aim to depict more than what each piece physically portrays.

The Wooden Canvas

The Indonesian culture, although influenced by numerous other cultures, is dominantly close in relation to nature and most especially religion. The fact that they use wood as their carving canvas brings us closer to understanding their love and high respect for nature. Wood of different types, from soft to hard, dark to white, are used in all types of wood carvings. Designs such as flowers, plants, trees, animals, and dragons are usual when dealing with Indonesian wood-carved art works. Each work of art is unique therefore is very much cherished by the Indonesian culture and is popular to woodcarving collectors all over the world.

Batik In Easy Steps

2011-05-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

There are a great many types of arts and craft projects to attempt. Here you can learn to make wonderful batik items in a few easy steps.

Equipment for the dyeing process
Bucket, hot water, salt, soda ash, dye powder

Procedure for immersion dying
Fill bucket with water (hot enough to dissolve salt and soda ash) add 1 level teaspoon soda ash and 2 level teaspoons salt per liter of water. Dissolve dye powder separately in a glass jelly jar. When fully dissolved add to bucket. When the water is lukewarm, immerse the batik into the bucket and keep it moving gently for approximately 10 minutes. Leave the batik in the bucket for a further 30 minutes moving it occasionally. Rinse batik lightly and leave to dry overnight (minimum time) in order to fix the dye.

Equipment for the application of wax
Tjanting, brushes, wax burner, wax, white cotton fabric

Procedure for application of wax
Heat a mix of 2/3 paraffin and 1/3 beeswax in an approved wax burner to the correct temperature (specified on your burner) fill the tjanting and gently wipe the bowl (to prevent drips) apply the wax to your cloth in the design of your choice. Brushes may also be used at this stage.

Batik Prints

2011-05-10T06:02:00.001-07:00

Batik has its origins in medieval Egypt but have currently seen Asian countries as its key manufacturing centers. Within Indonesia, only members of the royal family utilized Batik art work in the old days since they presumed the styles had distinctive significance for their wearers. Despite the fact that the craft originated form Egypt, it has traveled on to other regions of the globe such as Asia and Africa. This has provided each specific batik piece with a unique and distinctive pattern or design as each region draws heavily on local religion and culture.

Batik prints are not just used in various types of clothing such as shirts, scarves and dresses but it is also used for furniture, pictures along with wall hangings. Batik is usually a incredibly labor demanding procedure that produces gorgeous and distinctive patterns on permeable materials such as cotton as well as silk. At the start, cloth, normally white or cream in color is cleaned in boiling water to remove all traces of many other materials such as starch before the procedure commences.

Look at Batik and The Humble Scarf

2011-05-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

When concerned with the fusion that is the Batik Scarf, one must realize that both the scarf and batik prints are items that were invented hundreds of years ago. They both have their place in history books and they are both very relevant to today's fashion scene. Let us take a look at both these items in detail.

The Scarf

The origins of the humble scarf is believed to have taken place in ancient Rome. While primarily used as a cloth to wipe sweat off ones face, some Romans began using it as a fashion accessory. They were called Sudarium, which literally translates into a sweat cloth in the Latin language.

Asmat Woodcarving

2011-05-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

The typical Asmat woodcarving is one of Indonesian cultural wealth that already has a name for foreign tourists. The characteristics of the Asmat carving are a unique pattern and naturalist. From the patterns, you can see the complexity of how to make it. Thus, they become a valuable carving work.

In terms of the model, Asmat carving is very diverse, ranging from human statues, boats, panels, shields, drums, kaswari egg up the pole. Asmat usually adopt the experience and the everyday environment as their carving patterns, such as trees, boats, animals, people who are boating, people who are hunting, and many more.

Carving is a living tradition and a ritual that is closely associated with the spirituality of life and respect for ancestors. When the Asmat carve, they do not just make pattern on wood, but they also flow a spirituality of life.

Batik - An Identity of Indonesia

2011-05-08T19:30:00.001-07:00

Indonesia is a multicultural country which consists of thousand islands and tribes. The differences of demography and geography cause cultural differences, including the outfits worn by each tribe. Batik is one of the outfits that are quite popular, and its popularity has been known worldwide.

If you watch TV and see the President of Indonesia talking in public or in international conferences, you may see him wearing such an ethnic shirt with unique motifs. That is what so called batik, the national clothes of Indonesia citizens.

In some occasions, Indonesian may wear their traditional outfits, such as kebaya, baju kurung, ulos, etc. But when they come to national events, batik talks much. This outfit is a symbol of unity. It is a uniform which is considered as a must. This is a way to show how proud they are to be Indonesia citizens.

Indonesian Batik has been claimed as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity for all the techniques, technology, motif development, and the cultural values needed to make a piece of it. It is because the process includes two factors: coloring techniques and the choice of the motifs. This step is not easy since every motif should have a characteristic.

Batik - Hand Printing Textile

2011-05-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

Most of the fabrics being produced today are produced in China. They are printed on a machine. There is never a mistake, maybe a flaw here and there in the fabric. Hand printed fabric is an art that has almost faded away (probably due to the time it takes to produce). Specifically it is called "Batik" or hand printing fabric with a copper stamp dipped into hot wax. It is time consuming, however unique. If you analyze each application by the artisan onto the fabric it is not the same. Therefore, beautify is created moment by moment.

Indonesia, the country where batik fabric began, continues to create beautiful hand printed textiles. For the small cottage clothing businesses this is affordable and produces exceedingly nice women's tops, pants and separates. Furthermore, textile production orders keep the traditions and artisans secure for the next generation.

Batik Scarf

2011-05-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

The batik scarf has been becoming a popular fashion accessory in the modern world today. While both batik designs and the humble scarf is steeped in tradition, they combine to produce the batik scarf which can add an exotic touch to the wardrobe.

Batik products have their roots in a type of dye technique called the wax resist dye method. This technique was first seen in ancient Egypt where they were used to wrap the bodies of various mummies at the time. Today however, there are two main centers of batik production, India and South East Asia.

The main producers of the best products are from India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The most highly sought types are those that are produced in Indonesia. Indonesia has a rich history of batik making that can be traced centuries back.

Like Malaysia, batik products in Indonesia were traditionally worn by people from nobility and aristocrats. This is still seen today as batik is still a popular choice among politicians attending social functions as well as the respective nobility.

The History of Batik

2011-05-07T11:44:00.001-07:00

Batik is an artistic technique of dyeing a cloth by using a wax-resist method. Wax-resist method is the most traditional way to dye or color a cloth. This method prevents the dye from spreading on the entire cloth and so as to give a beautiful pattern or design on the cloth. Batik is regarded as the cultural and traditional art in Indonesia. The traditional colors used for Batik are deep shades of indigo, dark brown and white which symbolize the three main Hindu Gods. Javanese Batik, from Jog Jakarta with some particular meaning is found in countries of West Africa like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda and Mali with the true Javanese idea, and in Asia like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma.

Long ago, in the ancient period around 1500 years ago, the dye resist designs on the cloth were found in Egypt and the Middle East along with the two major countries, samples are also found in Turkey, India, China, Japan and West Africa around hundreds of years ago. In the present date, Batik is highly developed form of art found on the island of Java, Indonesia. In the 17th century, the fabrics were highly decorated with Dutch transcripts, by it is often believed that complicated designs in Java were possible when the finely woven imported cloth that was from India to Indonesia in 1800s and then from Europe in 1815. The similar Batik designs that were done on textiles earlier are noticed on stone statues that are beautifully sculptured on the walls of Javanese temples like Prambanan AD 800, but then it is not yet confirmed that the cloth was Batik. These designs could be produced by weaving techniques too. However, by the 19th century became greatly developed form of art in the cultural life of the Javanese.

Batik Fabric Production - The Old Is New Again

2011-05-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Introduction If you are passionate about textiles with exotic color and texture the chances are good you have a special love for batiks. It's easy to be captivated by these stunning color-saturated marvels. While there always seems to be a place in a batik lover's stash for a new "Bali" few of us know much about the fascinating, time-honored processes that are used to make our batik fabrics. In order to discover where the batiks in our local fabric store come from, let's take a virtual trip into an Indonesian batik factory.

Batik making is an ancient art for embellishing cloth through the use of wax, (or other media that creates resist), and dyes. While batik fabric is produced in India, China, Thailand and in several African nations, it is most renowned in Indonesia and Malaysia. In these areas there are two basic processes used to produce batik fabric; Batik Tulis (hand drawn batik) and Batik Cap (stamped batik). This article will focus on the production of stamped batik.

Stamping, involves the application of molten wax to cloth with the use of a metal or wooden stamp called a cap, (Pronounced Chap). The cap is a cookie cutter-like devise that is created in the image of the batik motif that it intends to produce. The stamping process begins with the preparation of the cloth.