Batik Gumelem Banjarnegara, Central Java

Talking about batik is indeed familiar to us.. there are so many legend batiks as mascots and souvenirs when you visit an area from the northern tip of Java to around Java. motif or pattern that characterizes it. But indeed there are things that are discussed about this batik, I think there is no end when it comes to art, yes, batik is art. You know that art is expensive, I mean because of the process and history of course.

Batik is like half of my soul as a form of love to be an Indonesian citizen who upholds the values ​​of Pancasila. You see, but it's true that I said that because who today doesn't have batik? I think those who don't have batik are not aware that batik is important. It's obviously important because today's formal events require many people to wear batik, for example, Mr. President and his staff, you know, right, it's mandatory to have batik now.

Apart from being suitable for all formal events, batik is also suitable for those of you who are confused about what costume to wear at an invitation, right?

OKAY, talking about batik, there is something interesting in Banjarnegara. Why Banjarnegara? Yes, Banjarnegara also has batik…. Maybe many of you are confused, it turns out that besides being famous for its "Dawet Ayu", Banjarnegara also has batik. "Batik Gumelem" his name. I don't want to be arrogant, Banjarnegara is rich in anything if you don't know it. Maybe all this time you know from the tourism sector, right, or just the culinary? There's actually a lot you should know here.

Now to the topic, I'll introduce you to Batik Gumelem now. Located in the villages of Gumelem Wetan and Gumelem Kulon, Susukan District, Banjarnegara Regency, there is a center for batik, which is why it is known as Batik Gumelem. Gumelem is about 40 KM to the southwest from the capital city of Banjarnegara Regency. This is where there are a lot of home industries who are members of the Small and Medium Enterprises (UKM) community for Banjarnegara handwritten batik or Batik Gumelem.

Tell me if you want to go there, whatever I will fulfill, believe me! So to be able to reach the batik center area, the road that can be taken is through Banyumas Regency, precisely on the side of the Susukan highway. There you will find a large gate that reads "Central Batik Gumelem Banjarnegara",

calm ………..there is only one such gate so don't worry about getting lost………….

After finding it, you can directly survey the location to the batik gumelem craftsmen and indeed the industrial center has become one with the dwelling so that it forms a residential house with a small outlet in front of it, that's how it is. It's better to "Teka Langsung Ben ora penasaran" (come right away so you don't get curious) that's it.

This Gumelem written batik has a distinctive motif in the form of "Udan Liris" and "Rujak Senthe". In addition, the peculiarity of the Gumelem batik pattern itself is the color sogan, sogan means brown, then black and yellow.

Batik Gumelem also does not leave the classic batik patterns typical of the palace (Sidomukti and Sidoluhur). When talking about history, it is the same with other Banyumasan batik. This relationship makes many similarities in patterns or motifs between Gumelem Batik and Banyumas Batik.

The process of making written batik in general has three stages, coloring, giving wax (wax), and releasing wax from the fabric. Actually there are many other terms in the process of making batik, for example nyunggging, nganji, njaplak, nglowong, mopok, ngelir, nglorond, finally washing and drying batik.

You can also directly see the process of making batik directly in place, just consider it a bonus, right?

The marketing of Gumelem Batik is indeed not as popular as other batiks, it is still limited to local people's consumption but calm down, friend.. that doesn't mean there are no efforts to develop and support while preserving this local product. The effort of the Banjarnegara Regency Government in introducing and promoting Gumelem Batik is by requiring the wearing of batik clothes on certain days, for example on the National Batik Day, Wednesday-Thursday for all levels of government employees and staff, as well as other important days.

Not infrequently, these batik craftsmen receive orders in large quantities...for example in family events (wedding), or in Festival class such as carnival. So, especially for those of you who are Banjarnegara children, it's not cool if you don't have a collection of “gaweane dewek” (homemade) batik.

Innovative efforts related to Batik Gumelem include making batik printing. The technique is the same as screen printing. This is done for clear time efficiency when compared to written batik, batik printing is faster to produce large quantities of batik quickly.

Historically, Gumelem batik is not much different from the batik motifs found in Sokaraja and Banyumas. The history of batik started from the exile of the royal family of the king of Surakarta and the followers of Prince Diponegoro at that time who were pressed by the Dutch colonials. They were determined not to return to their original area but remained in the Sokaraja and Banyumas areas.

In this new place, batik activities began. The name Najendra, a follower of Prince Diponegoro, was the one who first developed the art of batik in Banyumas. At that time, all equipment related to batik was made by themselves, such as mori cloth and dyes.

Over time the art of Sokaraja and Banyumas batik was done by Chinese descendants. They not only make batik but also sell various necessities and batik equipment. The great demand for batik at that time gave rise to new craftsmen who spread from Banyumas to Banjarnegara. The Gumelem area is no exception, batik seems to be their favorite activity in addition to their main job as farmers.

Batik has become a livelihood for the people of Gumelem. Batik centers are located in Dagaran and Karang Pace Hamlets (Gumelem Wetan), Ketandan Hamlets, Beji and Kauman (Gumelem Kulon)

According to the owners of the batik gallery, Gumelem Toto and Eti, there are currently 20 batik craftsmen in their village. There are three types of batik that they make, namely full batik (back and forth), 1/2 batik (not back and forth), and batik printing / combination writing. The characteristics of Gumelem batik are almost the same as Banyumas motifs, including the elephant uling motif, pring sapur, serayu river, udan lyris, sido mukti, buntelan, sidoluhur, sekar universe, wutah grain, broken coffee, cebong kumpul, dawet ayu, girilangan and many more.

Currently, contemporary motifs dominate Gumelem batik. This motif is usually done by young batik makers with bold color patterns, rare and large images. Contemporary motifs include lumbu alit, kawung ceplokan, kantil rinonce, sekar kinasih, barong twins, lung semanggen, and others.

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