This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
This person has a SecurePRO™ card. Because this person is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber, to view his or her SecurePRO™ card you must be a ProZ.com Business member or Plus subscriber.
Affiliations
This person is not affiliated with any business or Blue Board record at ProZ.com.
Indonesian to English: HARJUNA BATIK, UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF CANGKOL’S BATIK General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Textiles / Clothing / Fashion
Source text - Indonesian Batik Cangkol memang belum familiar di masyarakat seperti laiknya batik Laweyan atau batik Kauman di Solo. Namun, desa di Kecamatan Mojolaban Sukoharjo inipun menghasilkan batik dengan kualitas yang tak kalah bagus. Di sini, batik tulis menjadi unggulan. Salah satu yang cukup maju yakni Batik Harjuna.
Sekitar dua tahun yang lalu Tunjung (42) memutukan untuk beralih menjadi perajin batik setelah bosan dengan pekerjaan formalnya di sebuah perusahaan di Madiun, Tunjung. Bersama istrinya, Apip (27), mereka bersama-sama membesarkan usaha batik tulis. Berbekal latar belakang orang tua yang sudah terlebih dahulu menjadi pengusaha batik dan mengikuti berbagai pelatihan yang diadakan oleh Kluster Batik Sidomukti (perkumpulan perajin batik tingkat kapubaten) di Desa Cangkol membuat Tunjung bersama istrinya sanggup membangun usaha batik mereka sendiri.
“Batik saya itu batik tolet,” jelas Tunjung sembari sesekali mengerjakan pesanan batik, Jumat (19/12/2014). Batik tolet adalah batik tulis, yang proses pewarnaannya memakai teknik tolet, atau dilukis secara manual. “Di sini batiknya lebih seperti batik pesisir, warnanya lebih kaya, ada yang warna alam dan warna kimia,” lanjutnya bercerita tentang ciri khas batik dari desanya itu. Batik pesisir ialah batik yang sudah tidak terpengaruh oleh keraton, ciri khasnya batik tersebut memiliki warna yang lebih beragam dari batik keraton yang cenderung berwarna gelap.
Melakukan Inovasi
Tunjung yang cukup mahir dalam ilmu desain, menggunakan aplikasi desain untuk membuat desain-desain batiknya. “Biasanya saya desain dulu pakai computer. Setelah dicetak, tukang pola saya yang menggambar di atas kain mori,” terangnya. Hal itu berguna saat ada pesanan, karena Tunjung bisa menunjukkan desain batiknya kepada pelanggan sebelum digambar, seperti yang ia lakukan pada pelanggannya dari Filipina. Setelah pelanggan setuju, barulan desain batik itu diaplikasikan pada kain.
Selain itu, Tunjung juga membuat inovasi lain untuk proses membatiknya. Jika biasanya para perajin batik menggunakan spon untuk mengoleskan water glass sebagai pengunci warna, Tunjung menggunakan semprotan dalam proses penguncian warna.
Proses pembuatan batik tolet ini sangat panjang, secara umum, kain batik ini akan disebut jadi jika sudah mengalami dua kali penguncian warna dan dua kali pelorotan (pencucian akhir menggunakan air panas.Red). Pada tahap pelorotan yang pertama, akan terbentuk motif putih di bagian yang tadinya tertutup lilin, setelah itu diulangi bagian lain ditutup lilin, dan bagian yang masih putih akan ditolet lagi, kemudian diproses hingga proses pelorotan yang kedua. “Untuk proses kedua, ada sebagian pelanggan saya yang melanjutkan prosesnya sendiri menggunakan teknik pewarnaan celup,” terang Tunjung.
Untuk proses produksi tersebut Tunjung melakukannya bersama delapan orang rekan kerja termasuk istrinya. Lima orang berperan sebagai tukang batik, dua orang tukang tolet, dan satu orang tukang pola. “Target produksi sekarang ini susah diprediksi, Mas. Sebabnya banyak. Salah satunya ya musim hujan ini. Normalnya delapan hari selesai, sekarang bisa 10 hingga 20 hari”. Selama delapan hari ini, batik sudah melalui dua kali pemrosesan dan batik siap diolah menjadi pakaian. Sedangkan untuk pelanggan Tunjung yang hanya menghendaki pemrosesan satu kali, biasanya bisa menunggu empat hari. Selain memproduksi batik untuk dijual sendiri, Tunjung juga melayani para penjual batik yang ndandakke di tempatnya.
Selama ini selain gethok tular, penjualan Batik Harjuna juga menggunakan akun facebook milik Apip yang dinamai ‘Papip’. “Menggunakan social media di internet daya jualnya juga lumayan bagus, Mas,” terang Tunjung. Penjualan Batik Harjuna pun sudah bertaraf nasional bahkan internasional. Hampir semua kota disebutnya, ada juga beberapa negara Asia seperti Singapura, Filipina, Malaysia, dan Uni Emirat Arab, “Cuma Papua yang sejauh ini belum pernah ngirim ke sana,” seloroh Tunjung.
Kain mori yang digunakan Tunjung adalah kualitas super. Karena itu, harga kain produksi Tunjung lumayan tinggi.Selain itu yang menyebabkan perbedaan harga juga dari ragam warna yang dipakai dan kerumitan motif batik. Harga Batik Harjuna berkisar antara Rp200.000 hingga Rp600.000 per potong.
Translation - English Cangkol’s batik is not very familiar for the public compared to Laweyan’s batik or Kauman’s batik. However, this village has produced batik with any less quality. Here, batik tulis (written batik) has always been the favorite. Batik Harjuna is one that is pretty advanced in term of selling.
About two years ago, Tunjung decided to be a batik artisan since he was not satisfied with his formal employment in company in Madiun. Together with his wife, Apip, they opened a written batik business. Armed with his background as a the son of batik businessman and participated in trainings held by Batik Sidomukti Cluster (region level batik artisans association) in Cangkol Village, Tunjung and his wife has been able to build their own batik business.
“My batik is tolet batik,” Tunjung said as he occasionally worked on his batik. Tolet batik is written batik using tolet technique for coloring. It means that the coloring is painted manually with brush and not with canting (a tool to write batik) like the common batik artisans used. “Our batik is more similar to the coastal batik. It is more colorful. Some are colored with natural pigment some with artificial pigments,” he explained about the village’s batik characteristic. Coastal batik or known as batik pesisir in Indonesia is batik style that hardly affected by the Palace. While the Palace’s batik color is mostly dark and brown, coastal batik is far more colorful and brighter.
Innovation
Tunjung is quite adept in designing. He made his batik design using software for designing. “I used my computer to design. Once the design is printed, my worker will draw it on the cotton cloth,” he explained. Computer designing is very useful. Using the formerly drawn design, Tunjung can show his customers before the design is drawn on the cloth. He used this method for his customer in Philippines. After receiving a go-signal from his customer, this design will eventually be drawn on the cloth.
In addition, Tunjung innovates with his way of making batik. Cangkol’s batik artisans usually use a sponge to apply water glass. Water glass is used for color-locking. Tunjung used a spray instead of sponge.
The making process of tolet batik is quite long. Generally, batik cloth can be said as done after it went through two color-locking processes and two pelorotan process. Pelorotan is a process of washing half-done batik with boiling water. The first pelorotan process will melt the wax and in return the white pattern will be visible. After that, the white part will be drawn with wax with tolet technique again before the second pelorotan process. “For the second process, there are some of my customers that prefer to color the batik with dye technique,” Tunjung explained.
Tunjung does his production process with the help of eight colleagues including his wife. Five take the role as batik writer, two as tolet drawer, and one to make pattern. “Our production target is a bit hard to predict because of the rainy season. One batik cloth is usually done in eight days but now can take to twenty days.” In the span of eight days, batik has gone through twice pelorotan and ready to be made into clothes. For customers that only require one pelorotan process, they can get their batik in four days. In addition of producing batik to be sold in his store, Tunjung also serves batik sellers who order batik from him.
So far, in addition to gethok tular (mouth to mouth promotion), Harjuna Batik is also sold through Apip’s Facebook. “The selling went pretty good with the help of social media,” Tunjung said. Harjuna Batik has shipped their products nationally and internationally. There were several orders from Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and United Arab Emirates. “I never shipped to Papua, though,” Tunjung said.
The cotton cloth used by Tunjung has the highest quality. Because of that, Tunjung’s products are relatively high in price. In addition to the cloth, the price is differing by the color used and the pattern’s complexity. Harjuna Batik can be taken home with IDR200,000 to IDR600,000 per piece. (Author: Rizal Fikry | Translator: Lesmi Mitra)
More
Less
Experience
Years of experience: 10. Registered at ProZ.com: Feb 2016.
I had translated around 170 articles from Indonesian to English. Each article was around 600-1000 words and mostly about Javanese culture, small and medium enterprises, and people empowerment. I had also translated several legal documents from English to Indonesian, mostly about insurance.
Keywords: indonesia, javanese, culture, art, finance, business, marketing
Expertise 
Portfolio