craft
Batik Tulis in Giriloyo
Giriloyo, Bantul, Yogyakarta 4 hours 8+
Ibu Tatik hands you a canting and a beginner's cloth, and after an hour you understand why hand-drawn batik is priced by the week.
Giriloyo's women's cooperative has drawn batik for the Yogyakarta court tradition for generations. You start with the wax temperature, then draw a small pattern of your own, dye it, and boil the wax out. Between stages, Ibu Tatik explains which motifs were reserved for the palace and how the cooperative shares income.
The story behind the experience
Rebuilt around teaching
After the 2006 Bantul earthquake the village's makers organised into teaching cooperatives, which is why classes here are run by the women who draw rather than by city brokers.
How this scores
Cultural respect
Visitor-friendly
Dress code: Modest; clothes you do not mind waxing
What to bring
- · Cash to buy cloth from the maker
- · Water
What not to do
- · Photograph an unfinished commission
- · Copy a cooperative pattern for commercial use
Your host
Meet Ibu Tatik
Batik tulis maker and cook, Bantul · Giriloyo, Bantul, Yogyakarta
Ibu Tatik has drawn with a canting for thirty-one years and teaches on cloth she keeps for beginners, not on a pattern she is selling. Her kitchen runs on the same clock: gudeg starts the night before.