My friend Peter has been inviting me for MONTHS to come to Bin House on a Saturday for lunch and shopping. He goes every week and meets his friends there. Peter has been in Indonesia for 40 years in the insurance industry, and he is lovely and sharp-tongued all at once, and reminds me so much of my Grandpa Irving. With the kids out of school with no soccer, no birthday parties, and no homework, we went. We were so glad we did!
I was having too good of a time having lunch (3G) gila (means crazy, in this case, spicy) gado-gado (cooked veggies in peanut sauce, with a base of kankung - water spinach - yum!).. then shopping.. to whip out my camera to take pix of the store.. but it's beautiful. They sell really, really high end batik all made by the traditional method. And lots of colors, and lots of styles. Peter was explaining that Bin (a woman) was one of the key people responsible for revitalizing batik in Indonesia. She brought back the methods and designs, and used all kinds of fantastic colors (traditional Javanese is brown and black). It's fantastic now! Peter gave Jaffa a purple and fuschia silk scarf (ummmm.. eeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!) I have hidden it somewhere obvious so she won't yell at me or torture the thing. ohmydog I wouldn't pay that much for one for me! I might for my mom.. but that's it!!
The reason that batik is so special is because of the method. First they weave the cloth, sometimes with a pattern. Then they draw the pattern in ink, then they cover all of the spaces that they don't want to dye with wax using something like a fountain pen. Then they dye one color. Then they take off the wax, and cover everything else with wax, then dye another color. And so it goes until the whole thing is dyed. These are really intricate designs, and some pieces take 9 months to complete. Below they are doing the waxing part..
Zeric bought a shirt to add to his collection.. it's magnificent! I'm going to take Peter up on lunch again, and shop for myself this time :)
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