So you’ve got your hands on this beautiful piece of Batik garment that you absolutely love and you want it to last. Fear not, because, with the right care, Batik pieces can last for decades. It is not uncommon for Batik to be an heirloom piece, passed down from generation to generation. We’ve got a few tips up our sleeve to maintain your Batik so that you can enjoy it for many years. But before we let you in on that, we want to share a little bit about the types of fabric used to make Batik and how artisans dyed the Batiks.
Silk and cotton are two of the most common fabrics to use in Batik making, also one of the first. Nowadays, you can find Batik made from Mori, rayon, polyester, and Serat Nanas (a fabric made of pineapple leaves).
Silk fabric
Cotton fabric
Rayon fabric
Serat Nanas fabric
There are two ways of Batik dyeing; either dipping the waxed cloth into dye or applying it onto the fabric with rattan or brush, similar to painting. This technique is called coletan.
Coletan technique
Turmeric, Indigo, Jalawe, Mangosteen, Secang, Tegeran, and Shallots are well-known for having beautiful results when used to dye Batik. Whilst synthetic dyes are Naphthol, Indigosol, Remasol, Rapid and Substantive. At Red Thread, we use Oeko Tex 100 certified Remazol® Fiber Reactive Dyes by Dystarl. This certification means it is an eco-friendly dye.As a thumb rule, we always suggest washing your batik piece by hand with room temperature water.
Use a tiny amount of gentle detergent (Lerak is preferable), soak for 15 minutes, rinse, then hang dry under the shade. When handling Batik pieces made from silk and naturally dyed, sending it to the dry cleaner is the safest way.
Lerak fruits
Akar Wangi
If you want to do it yourself:
- Use warm water (no more than 30 degrees celsius) and Lerak as soap.
- Rinse, but do not wring your Batik.
- Hang it under the shade and pick it up as soon as it dries.
- Use a piece of cloth or iron paper on top of it before ironing.
- Do not use the iron directly on the fabric.
- Store it in a dry box to preserve its shine.
- Use well-processed Akar Wangi or silica gel to rid of bugs and mildew.