A part from its significant effect on batik production and the commercialization of batik, the introduction of the cap signalled a change in demographics in the batik industry in Indonesia. While the application of wax on to cloth with a canting had been almost exclusively a task reserved for women, as it is still today in Indonesia (and Malaysia), in the many batik workshops and factories that were established along the north coast of Java, especially by entrepreneurs of Arabic and Chinese origin, men became increasingly involved in what was basically a semi-industrialized industry. Cap work was heavier and more physically demanding than canting work, thus opening up a role for men in the ‘production line’ as stamp makers, batik printers and dyers.
As noted in Chapter 1, Malay women in the peninsula—not forgetting the small communities of Straits Chinese women in Penang, Melaka and Singapore known as Nyonyas—adopted the habit of wearing batik sarongs long before the Malays in the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu began making them. It is believed that the use of metal stamps and wax was introduced to the Malay Peninsula as late as the 1930s by Javanese batik makers who came to seek employment in batik workshops and, in the process, impart their knowledge of batik making. Some were brought in specially to teach the art of batik cap at workshops in Kota Bharu and Kuala Terengganu, such as a batik maker by the name of Raden Mokhtar who was employed at the workshop of Haji Che Su bin Haji Ishak in Lorong Gajah Mati, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, in early 1931. There was no simultaneous introduction of the canting in the Malay Peninsula. As Sarah Arney points out in her pioneering work, Malaysian Batik: Creating New Traditions (1987), the Malays were not interested in learning the Indonesian canting or tulis technique. It was too labour-intensive and the sarongs produced too expensive. By using the cap technique, the Malay batik workers, predominantly men as in Indonesia, could produce sarongs in greater quantities and at prices that were within the reach of ordinary people. Although the stamps used were initially made of imported copper, as they were in Indonesia, when the price of copper rose, Malay stamp makers turned to recycling tin cans.
A section of the kepala and badan of a screen-printed cotton sarong from Terengganu, 1998. The opposing pucuk rebung triangles and floral borders on the kepala, combined with the patterning of flowers and foliage on the badan, were inspired by Pekalongan sarongs from the north coast of Java.
Materials and Methods
Producing good cap designs in batik is a lengthy process requiring specially made tools, careful planning of the design layout and expertise in stamping and dyeing. As Mohamed Najib Ahmad Dawa says in his introduction to En Bloc (2009), a catalogue of an exhibition of some 500 batik stamps or cap held at Malaysia’s National Art Gallery, ‘The stamping technique is actually a more deliberate process than the canting method.... It requires more tools and greater schematic planning in the image-making compared to the hand-drawn method.’ There are, however, limitations to the possible intricacy of cap design and the compositions are made rather rigid by the need for repetition. Another significant difference, Najib says, lies in the dyeing process. ‘The stamping technique requires a pre-planned scheme of colours, due to the process of dipping and dyeing in the bath. In the case of hand-drawn batik, the dyes are applied directly onto the surface and a myriad of colours can be applied by the stroke of the brush.’
It is perhaps to be expected that the somewhat coarse locally made tin stamps did not produce the fine, consistent lines typical of Indonesian batik cap; rather, as Arney points out, they resulted in a ‘fidgety’ look. Nevertheless, the earliest Malaysian batik cap fulfilled a local need for sarongs for everyday wear and some were even exported to Sarawak, Brunei, Singapore and Thailand. The block technique could also be used to produce stamped cloth in yardage, which became increasingly popular. Although batik production halted during the Japanese occupation of Malaya (1941–5) because of a lack of imported cotton from England and India, by the early 1950s production had resumed. Haji Ali’s factory in Terengganu was employing 200 workers and there were some 60 factories operating in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Batik cap was on its way as a fully established handicraft in Malaysia, reaching its pinnacle in the 1970s.
A typical monotone block-printed sarong featuring repetitions of a grouping of small motifs, including a fish, the top border containing a meandering vine, the bottom border a row of triangles.
A small selection of stamped motifs created from among the 500 metal batik blocks displayed in the En Bloc exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, in 2009, and in the accompanying exhibition catalogue.
Made of strips of copper, brass or zinc, metal waxing stamps range in size from 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches) to 5 x 10 cm (2 x 4 inches) and consist of entire design units.
Floral motifs predominate on metal blocks, which are often a work of art in themselves.
The structure of a sarong showing the decorative kepala (head), the badan (body) and the narrow borders that enclose these elements.
Tools
The most essential tools in batik cap are, of course, the waxing stamps or cap. Evocatively termed sarang bunga or ‘flower nest’, the stamps consist of entire design units made of strips of brass or zinc plate twisted to the shape of the design and set upright within a frame attached to a curved iron handle soldered to the reverse side; the copper stamps initially imported from Java were considered too heavy to handle. A piece of cloth is usually wound around the handle to provide padding. Made either by specialist stamp makers (tukang blok) in home-based, family-operated batik stamp factories or in independent workshops, the cap vary in shape and dimension but for ease of handling rarely exceed 24 cm in any direction. Most Malaysian cap range in size from 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches) to 10 x 15 cm (4 x 6 inches) to as small as 5 x 10 cm (2 x 4 inches). Many of the stamps, crafted with intricate motifs, are works of art in themselves. However, the process of making them demands a certain degree of stylization, just as it does in handwoven textiles like kain songket because of the inability of both processes to create smooth curves and absolute realism. In contrast, in hand-drawn batik, motifs like blossoms may appear more realistic and fluid.
The Art of the Metal Block
Zakaria Ismail has been making batik blocks for almost four decades, apart from a few years in the mid-1980s when he dabbled in batik making. He started learning the art when he was twelve years old from a villager. Belying the simple tools of his trade—cutters, pliers and chisels, a soldering iron, rolls of sheet tin or brass, wire and a table to work on—a cap requires great skill and precision on the part of the metal craftsman. Many of the stamps, crafted with intricate motifs, are beautiful works of art, and are sturdy enough to be used repeatedly for many years.
Zakaria starts by drawing the design of the required stamp on a piece of paper. He then cuts 3-cm-wide strips off the thin copper sheets and positions them vertically over the paper in the shape of the design using a small pincer. Nails driven into the table along the sides of the strips hold the strips in place. He next painstakingly solders the assembled strips together; smaller pieces of wire are used for dots. Once the entire design unit is complete, it is filed with a chisel to make it completely level. Zakaria then fixes it vertically within a sturdy open metal frame of the same material before finally attaching a curved iron handle. Each block takes about three days to complete.
Today, Zakaria is passing on the tradition of batik block making to the next generation by taking on interns from Kraftangan. The tradition, however, is in jeopardy due to more efficient technology and modern batik processes such as brush painting and silk-screen