Friendship Force Surabaya : on how we Introduce our Beautiful Heritage to our Friends from Abroad (Sacramento, that is)

Last month we (me, mas Firman Guendut and mas Prima Klampis Ireng Batik ) had the opportunity to give small presentation about batik. The highlight for this session wasn't entirely about the batik itself because Friendshipforce Sacramento delegations had already had a batiking session in Surakarta. Rather we introduce the most traditional way of preserving batik fabric using natural ingredients and 'ratus' , old-style preservation incorporating incense 'fragrant' smoke , the practice that even Indonesians hadn't seen in years.
Well, why preservation intrduction, then ? why not batiking itself ? 
It was just because prior to their arrival to Surabaya, they'd visited Surakarta first and they had their batiking session there. And i think to have continuation of the topic, i think i have to find related but not exactly the same topic with our friend's in Surakarta.

 Photo Credit : All of these beautiful illustrations was Rendy Tjitrawardhana 's from his album : FF SBY-Sacramento, Day 2 - Art & Culture Day .
Contributing presentation material : Ibu Noorlailie Soewarno Tjahjadi with late-night discusion and grammar-checking.

 

 

 

 

Batik Day, October 2nd , 2013

Just sharing some pictures and news about "Friendship Force Surabaya" program receiving FF Ladies from Brazil, and i was invited to introduce our cultural heritage, the batik .
It consisted of 2-course "meals" , included smal introductory presentation about batik and batik session,done by the ladies themselves.

The presentation's just 'scratch in the surface' since batk has wide array of the topics itself. the major point was to pt initial interest to the batik.the fabric, the process on how it was made and the meaning behind it.
The presentations actualy turns out fun, since it was like a two-way conference. I was spoke to the audience and Mrs. Simone, the leader of Brazil FF translated it into portuguese.Too bad the presentation couldnt make it to the end due to the limited of time available.
But the fun was just beginning, the ladies was taugh to prepare their own sheets of cotton,by tearing it up manually , in a single stroke. It was fun to see the ladies tried it themselves.