KRAFTANGAN MALAYSIA'S 'CLAY BATIK' INNOVATION GAINING POPULARITY

At the Community-based Rehabilitation Centre (PPDK) in Lenggong, Perak, three women could be seen diligently pressing batik blocks on a piece of fabric stretched out on a table.

Nurul Jannah Jamaluddin, 28, Sopiyah Pathil, 32, and Nur Husna Najwa Merzuki, 25, categorised as slow learners, are among the trainees with disabilities at the centre, where they are being taught skills to enable them to stand on their own feet.

Interestingly, PPDK Lenggong, which comes under the Department of Social Welfare, uses a clay-based resist technique, instead of hot candle wax, for their batik-making process as clay is safer to handle compared to hot wax which can endanger the safety of their trainees with special needs.

Traditionally, batik making involves the use of hot wax to create batik motifs on fabrics. However, the use of clay is now gaining attention as it has proven to be an effective colour-resist material.

PPDK Lenggong supervisor Asmaeyah Sihabuddin said working with clay is safer and easier for the trainees involved in batik making.

“The use of clay (instead of hot wax) is not only appropriate for them but also helps train their cognitive skills in terms of arranging the patterns, colouring them and decorating the fabric,” she told reporters when met at the rehabilitation centre earlier this month.

The visit to PPDK Lenggong was part of the itinerary of a two-day tour organised by the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation (Kraftangan Malaysia) for the media to take a closer look at the development of community crafts in Perak especially in the Lenggong Valley and Kuala Kangsar.

BATIK-MAKING PROCESS

On the challenges of teaching trainees with special needs, Asmaeyah said it requires a great deal of patience as they have to be taught the same things repeatedly daily.

“While a normal person might remember after being taught once, our trainees (with disabilities) take a bit more time. Teaching them can indeed be time-consuming,” she said.

She also said the rehabilitation centre’s training programme has brought many positive changes to their trainees, particularly in fostering social relationships and helping them to become more independent.

“The improvements are noticeable… our special needs trainees have even learned to interact and communicate with our customers during events or exhibitions. Previously, they only socialised among themselves,” she said.

Explaining how the clay resist technique, innovated by Kraftangan Malaysia, is used in the batik-making process, Asmaeyah said the resist material is prepared first by mixing clay, water, a binder and a stabiliser.

“We’ve to make sure the mixture is not too thick or too dilute,” she said.

Following this, blocks or stencils with pre-existing designs are dipped into the mixture before they are stamped onto the fabric. Most of the blocks are sourced from Kraftangan Malaysia while some are purchased from other sources.

“After the patterns are applied, the fabric is set out to dry, then it is dipped in dye and washed. After this, the fabric is ready to be cut and sewn into any type of attire, depending on what our customers want,” she said.

Each day, subject to their moods, the trainees with special needs are able to produce a single piece of fabric, measuring four metres in length. The PPDK pays them a small salary on top of the monthly allowance of RM300 they receive from the Department of Social Welfare.

Asmaeyah, who has been involved in producing batik using the clay resist technique for two years, said the demand for this product has been very good, adding some German tourists even visited PPDK Lenggong to see how this particular type of batik is produced.       

“Kraftangan Malaysia has provided a lot of guidance to us in our efforts to expand our batik enterprise because we are not experts in the field of batik,” she said, adding the agency also provided them with seed funding and operational capital as well as opportunities to participate in various festivals to introduce their batik.

PPDK Lenggong’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Recently, it won the newly introduced Craft Community Award during the National Craft Day 2024 celebrations at the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex.

Asmaeyah also hoped the special needs children under her care can one day be skilled enough to open their own workshops, thus elevating the prominence of Lenggong's clay batik.

INTERNATIONAL ARENA

Meanwhile, clay batik entrepreneur Nur Nabihah Zakaria, 40, whose workshop is located in Kuala Kangsar, aspires to bring batik to the international stage, given the growing interest in this textile field.

“I believe batik can penetrate foreign markets as I have had customers purchasing my batik to take it to India and Australia. My brother has also taken my collection to Turkey and the people there loved it,” she said.

A former student of the National Craft Institute, she became actively involved in the batik business after graduating in 2009.   

She said she started making batik using the clay resist technique after she accepted an offer from Kraftangan Malaysia to join their incubator entrepreneur programme in 2021.

“That was when I learned the clay technique… compared to hot wax, I find the clay resist method easier to handle. In fact, I can make up to 10 pieces of batik fabric a day using clay, compared to two or three pieces using hot wax,” she said.

Nur Nabihah said her batik designs, featuring mostly abstract and floral patterns, are all her own creations.

“I like my designs to be unique. Sometimes, customers ask me where I got the patterns from as they are different from those found elsewhere,” she said, adding there is good demand for her clay batik fabrics and that she can sell nearly 200 pieces each time she participates in an exhibition.

CLAY BATIK INNOVATION

Kraftangan Malaysia Perak Branch director Mohamad Rizan Mohamad Nordin said the use of clay as a colour resist had its beginnings in 2020 when Kraftangan Malaysia Perak Branch – in line with its role as a centre of innovation for clay-based ceramic crafts – was asked to conduct research and develop a clay-based colour resist compound for textiles.

“Our research team found that clay has the potential to be used as a resist material and that was how we came up with the clay batik innovation,” he said, adding that Kraftangan Malaysia’s application to patent the innovation was approved by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia in February this year.   

Mohamad Rizan said their research efforts paid off when the innovative colour-resist compound won a silver medal (in the Sustainable Product Award category) at the recent National Intellectual Property Awards 2024 on April 26.

“We anticipate that this achievement will be a stepping stone for the broader commercialisation of clay batik,” he said.

He added Kraftangan Malaysia is actively introducing the innovation to Community Craft Development Project (PPKK) participants and craft entrepreneurs nationwide.

“In Perak, for example, the PPKK in Lenggong, Manong, Bagan Serai, Tapah and Muallim are using our innovation to produce clay batik products, using designs created by Kraftangan Malaysia’s designers.

“We are also trying out the clay resist technique on cotton- and silk-based materials… in fact, we want to extend it to all types of fabrics found in the textile industry,” he said.

He also said it is cheaper to use clay rather than wax as the colour-resist compound to produce batik, adding the final product price, however, is determined by factors such as fabric type, colour usage and designs.

Translated by Rema Nambiar