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54

IMOGIRI

July 29 1:30-3:30 PM - visit to batik put out industry at Imogiri (foot of the royal burial grounds); visit coincided with annual festival of Nyadran of the Kraton Solo, and most of the villagers attending the ceremony, but was able to visit the home of Pak Kartorumukeso, whose wife is a pembatik

Pak. K. himself was head of a batik co-op between 1945-55 & has lived in the village all his life, so gave us a good deal of historical data - his wife is 68 & Pak K. himself looks about 70

industry at Imogiri dates back long before Pak K. was born - originally villagers grew their own cotton (kapas), spun & wove it on a backstrap loom & then batiked & dyed it themselves - acc: to Pak K. the villagers began using purchased cloth instead of weaving it themselves when he was a small child, ie about 1916 - they continued dying the cloth themselves, however, using the following natural dyes:
1. daun tom - blue-black
2. soga - rust (tree bark)
3. sari kuning - yellow

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at that time made soga cloth & also a 2 color (black & white) cloth that is not use any more (white dots on black cloth, used at Sekaten by the perajurit gladak)

after about 1945, possibly coinciding with the founding of the co-op, the village stopped making their own dyes & began sending their waxed cloth to Jogja to be dyed

formerly also made their own wax from beeswax gathered in the area (bees seen around the burial grounds still) but wax now purchased in Jogja

co-op worked as follows: cloth which already had been waxed dititip with with the co-op, was taken to Jogja & exchanged for new cloth, wax & other supplies & a little money ('sedikit uang') - this was taken back by the coop leaders and re-distributed to the pembatik

Pak K. recalls that in former times (his childhood) money was not used much in the area - the method of 'selling' a finished cloth was often taking it to the market & bartering it for whatever goods one needed