TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Malang batik designer, Billy Wong, never thought any further about the long and complicated process of making batik gentongan. Billy never realized that there was a mystical belief behind each batik gentongan pattern.
He revealed that the process of making the Madura batik gentongan differs from Javanese batik in general. Aside from taking up to six months to create, batik makers must also abstain from many things.
Billy stated that if batik makers do not abstain from certain things, they would experience karma if they violate tradition. "If a family member dies, then the process of making the batik inside the drum must stop. If not, they willhave bad luck," said Billy Wong on Friday, May 17.
He explained that the name of this batik was derived from the process of creating the batik using a gentong (drum/container). The gentong must also be placed in a darkroom. The Batik Gentongan Madura is hand made using touches of natural colors and generally consists of flora and fauna patterns. The mixture of natural colors with these flora and fauna prints creates a strong sense of eastern culture art.
DIANANTA P. SUMEDI
