Batik is one of the handicrafts that are famous in Malaysia. Tourist usually bought this cloth as a souvenir to their relatives and friends. Today, i would love to share about Batik creations in Malaysia. Batik is a textile art from the east coast of Malaysia which is Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang.
The most popular motifs are leaves and flowers. Malaysian batik do not use humans or animals as a motifs because Islam norms had forbid animal and human images as part of decorations. However, the most famous motifs is that is a common exception theme is butterfly. Besides, Malaysia batik is also famous for its geometrical designs, such as spirals. In line with the 1 Malaysia concept which is introduced by our Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, the Malaysia's government had endorse the usage of Malaysian batik as our national dress to every stages of the populations by encouraging all of the citizens to wear batik dresses on every Thursday.
Do you know that Malaysian batik is differ from those Indonesian Javanese batik? Malaysian batik's pattern is larger and simpler while the methods use by our local designers are they seldom use canting to create patterns and rely heavily on brush painting method to apply colours on the fabric. The colours also tend to be more vibrant and lighter than Indonesian Javanese batik.
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| Hand-painted |
There are two methods of Malaysian batik making. One of the method is hand-painted or hand-drawn batik. It is based on the artist's imaginations and creativity. Usually the artist begins by using canting or a small pen-like container filled with hot-melted wax to draw on to a white fabric. Various fabrics are used including cotton, rayon, linen, voile and silk. These fabrics are patterned with floral and geometrical motifs, arranged in various layouts as dictated by current trends.The gracefulness and speed of the artist's free hand never ceases to amaze one's attention. During colouring process,manual process is used for a high quality hand-drawn. After the coloured batik is dried, it will be soaked in a solutions for 8 hours to retain the colours. Hand-painted batik is more expensive compared to block-painted batik because it requires a lot of time and patience of the designers.These garments are often used for formal events.Besides shirt and dresses, hand-drawn batik is also made into scarves, pareos, craftans and even as framed art.
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| Source: Batik |
Another method is block-painted or block-print batik. The canting will be replaced by a copper block or sometimes a wooden stamp with artistically patterned bottom.The block is dipped into the wax and printed onto the fabric, which is then dip-dyed. Then the wax will be removed and batik with single color is produced. To create multi-colors and complex batik, waxing with different blocks, dying and de-waxing have to be done many times.Block-printed batik does not have the intricate delicacy of hand-drawn batik and similar shapes or patterns are repeated on a piece of fabric.
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| Source: TMSART |
Cotton is a popular fabric used in block-printed batik and the output quantity is around 20 metres, depending on the original size of fabric. Block-printed batik is usually tailored into shirts and dresses for leisure wear.Block-printed batik is also made into handicrafts and soft furnishings like table clothes.In general, the process of hand-drawn batik is very slow and time consuming, while block-printed batik is faster and more suitable for mass production. As a result, hand-drawn batik is more expensive and exclusive than block-printed batik.
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| Source: Noor Arfa Batik |
Some of the event that Malaysia's government had organised are Kuala Lumpur International Batik (KLIB) Convention and Exhibition is a biennial event under the Malaysia Batik - Crafted For the World movement,it brings in speakers from various countries (including Singapore, Indonesia, India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Japan), and holds a three-day batik exhibition. They also organized
The Piala Seri Endon Batik designing competition which named after the late wife of the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia to revitalize pride in Malaysian Crafts.
The Piala Seri Endon batik design competition, named after Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood, late wife of the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia, has become an annual event that has placed Malaysian Batik designers in the international limelight.
This annual competition consist of three categories which are Fashion, Soft Furnishing and Handicraft.
Activities under the movement include the annual Batik Week/International Batik Festival, local and international road shows and the Kuala Lumpur International Batik Convention & Exhibition.This is foreseen as one large annual event of an international standard that highlights the Malaysian batik industry and reinforces batik as an inherent part of the Malaysian identity and personality."
That's all. Thanks for reading :)
by Fhatin Amelia
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