Maintenance of Batik to Preserve its Beauty and for Durability
The maintenance of written batik is indeed rather different and is more difficult than the maintenance of stamped batik or printed batik. But it does not mean that you will not be able to maintain it. And this should not restrain you from buying written batik.
Batik is not an ordinary garment to wear because it has artistic value and philosophy in itself. In order to maintain the color of batik, a special treatment is needed.
1. Batik should be washed using hair shampoo
First of all, the shampoo must be solved in water and there should be no part that is still thick. Then the batik cloth is immersed into it.
You can also use special soap ("lerak" = a kind of fruit) for the batik cloth.
2. No rubbing and no detergent
If your batik cloth is not too dirty then you can wash it using warm water. But if your batik cloth has specks of dirt then you can wash it using bath soap only, that is enough. But if the specks of dirt are difficult to eliminate then you can use skin of lemon fruit for the dirty part only. Never wash batik cloth using washing machine.
3. Make the batik dry by placing it in shady place
When the dirt is already eliminated, then it must be made dry by placing it in shady place, but you should not squeeze the cloth, let the cloth undergoes drying naturally. Before drying batik cloth you should hold a corner of the cloth with your left hand and hold the opposite corner with your right hand then stretch the cloth, it is for eliminating folded/convoluted parts of cloth.
4. Avoid ironing directly on the cloth
Avoid ironing directly on the cloth, if the cloth is too convoluted you can spray water on your batik cloth then you can cover your batik cloth with another cloth (serving as a layer). So your batik cloth is not exposed directly to the heat of the clothes presser.
5. How to give fragrance or cloth softener
Fragrance or cloth softener should not be sprayed directly on batik cloth. First of all, cover your batik cloth with paper (e.g. newspaper), then spray liquid fragrance or other softener. You should not spray fragrance directly to your batik garment (cotton or silk) if the garment contains natural dye.
6. How to store batik?
- After ironing, you should wrap your batik cloth in a plastic bag to avoid insects, or you can wrap it with special paper that is not acidic. Store your written batik, both garment or cloth, in a cool and dry place and not humid and not exposed directly to sun ray.
- You should not give camphor balls because this solid substance is too reactive so it may damage your batik cloth.
- You would better place a little pepper wrapped in tissue paper into the cupboard where you store your batik cloth, to avoid insect that may damage your batik cloth. Or you can use fragrance in the form of root that has ben immersed in hot water and exposed to sun light, and immersed again in hot water and exposed to sun light again. When the root has been dry you can use it.
- You should not spray liquid fragrance directly to batik cloth or batik garment that is made from silk and natural dye.
- If you want to give fragrance or softener on your written batik cloth, the liquid fragrance may not be sprayed directly to the cloth. Previously, you should cover the cloth with paper (newspaper), then spray liquid fragrance and softener on the paper.
- Periodically, once every two weeks, your batik cloth should be unfolded and exposed to wind and to sun light for about 10 - 15 minutes in the morning to free the batik cloth from humidity.
