(Attempted) Inventory of Exctinct Peranakan Batik Tulis of the Dutch East Indies and Java Island

Here, I will nevertheless try to post as many pictures as I could of those amazing Batik Tulis which had been advertised for subdivision, have been converted into handbags, and those which although had not been explicitly advertised as such, was positioned in a very particular way, which made them discreetly available for subdivisions and bag making. Some have been explicitly shown as having been destroyed and re-emerged on the other side as bags of various forms. (Many, sadly, are far less attractive in their new forms, with awkward bag designs, mediocre quality of craftsmanship, and of course, many of the original designs of these Batik Tulis did not translate very well into their new shapes).

The progression of the destruction of some other Batik Tulis pieces are harder to "track", but a combination of facts, led me to conclude that the pieces were making their way into various bag production piles.

The tragedy here is that although you will see numerous photos here, these are but a mere fraction of the actual destruction that is happening at the moment. The photos were gathered within a period of approximately 2-3 months or so, through daily vigilance, approximately 12 hours a day, before I gave up. These now extinct batik were mainly originated from the early 1900s - 1960s.

All of these batik tulis pieces are currently no longer in their whole form, and therefore what you see as pictured here, no longer exist.

Other than raise awareness of their destruction, I hope that the pictures here might provide some form an online reference, of various techniques and designs soon to be forgotten or potentially so.

I know for a fact that some of these techniques have been lost in time. They may look simple, on the surface, especially if we are not familiar with the technique of Batik Tulis. But they are extremely hard to do, amazingly time consuming, and too expensive to make today.

As of today, NO ONE has been able to reproduce the colours, dyes, wave and flow of designs, intricate detailing and background, of these older Batik Tulis. (Please do a search on the basic principles and techniques of "batik tulis", you will be amazed!).

Perhaps someone out there is learning how to make Batik Tulis and perhaps might try to reproduce one of the beauties you see here, and rediscover their "recipes". If that is the case, please share your journey with us! Many will be cheering you on!

Perhaps others reading this might know of other Batik Tulis lined up for destruction. Please feel free to forward some photos.

I hope that this way, more and more traditional and older Peranakan Batik Tulis designs (both colours and forms) can be revived.

It is not that looking back is more important than moving forward. But I do not believe we can move forward properly unless we can really look back, understand and truly appreciate what we are looking back at. Picasso did not start painting in a way that he is known for now. Masters of modern art did not start off their crafts as modern artists..... Modern dancers often started off with ballet, and jazz pianist with classical piano.

Being able to look back, is being able to know where you came from, who you are, and consequently will allow us to move ahead with much more depth and definition, in a way that we can never be, if we simply wonder off purely on whims and fancy.

I thank you all for your time beforehand, and thanks for dropping by!

PS: there are a lot of pictures to include, so I will have to post them all one by one in the course of several days.