Krebet, The Village of Batik Woodcraft

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1.2 ( 5 Voter(s) )

A. Overview

Batik is commonly created upon a sheet of cloth. But by the craftsmen in Krebet, a small village in Pajangan District, Bantul, Batik is developed further using wood as the media. Wooden masks, animal miniatures, and other items are ornamented with batik motifs as if they are cloths.

Krebet Village is actually a non-fertile area. However, the people creativity in craftsmanship has made the village one of tourism destinations in Bantul Regency.

Batik woodcraft has been the icon of the village as well as the backbone of the people’s economy. The industry’s turnover each month reaches tens to hundreds of millions rupiahs. The handicrafts of Krebet are not only distributed in domestic scope like in Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya, but they have also gone through international market being marketed in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

B. Feature

Another experience tourists can try is learning to paint batik on a wooden puppet. Upon wooden material, batik painting is really different. It requires minute carefulness because the pattern is made manually instead of using a cast like on cloths. By learning to paint batik, tourists can get information about various batik motifs, such as Kraton classic motifs including parangrusak, parangbarong, kawung, garuda, sidomukti, sidorahayu, and tens of other motifs. These motifs are well-known and liked by foreign markets. Aside from those motifs, tourists may choose other motifs as they like.

Although the learning facilities in the village are modest—and there are no English-speaking instructors—by watching how the craftsmen do their job from making the puppet until painting the batik, tourists will have enough knowledge to start painting batik on their own.

What is more about this village is that it is near to another tourist destination, Selarong Cave, the hideout of Pangeran Diponegoro (an Indonesian national hero) and his troops during war against the Dutch.

C. Location

Krebet is situated in Sendangsari Sub-district, Pajangan District, approximately 12 km southwest of the city of Yogyakarta.

D. Access

To get to Krebet Village from Yogyakarta downtown, visitors can go southwards through Bantul street. Then, from this street there are at least two alternative roads, i.e. through Kasongan Tourism Village or go farther south and turn right at Bantul Grand Mosque (Masjid Agung Bantul) intersection. Since there are no public transports to Krebet, visitors must go there by private transports or else, call a tour agent providing service to take you to the village.

E. Ticket

There is no ticket charge to get into Krebet Tourism Village. Visitors can pay a visit anytime for free.

F. Accommodations and Other Facilities

In this tourism village, there are about 25 workshops wherein the craftsmen work. Almost all people in the village, either male or female, work in the batik woodcraft industry. For tourists, the course to create batik puppet is offered at the cost of Rp 200.000,00 (December 2009). It sounds like expensive but it is actually not as it covers not only the course, but also lodging for tourists in the local people’s houses.

Text: Adi Tri Pramono

Translation: Brian Reza Daffi (trans/14/06-10)

References:

“Desa Wisata Krebet, Bantul” downloaded on March 27^th 2010 from: http://baltyra.com/2009/12/05/desa-wisata-krebet-bantul/
“Sentra Industri Kerajinan Batik Kayu di Dusun Krebet Bantul Mampu Atasi Masalah Pengangguran Warga,” downloaded on March 27^th 2010 from: http://www.madina-sk.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3582

“Dusun Krebet, Belajar Membatik Wayang dengan Media Kayu,” downloaded on March 27^th 2010 from: http://www.yogyes.com/id/yogyakarta-alternative-tourism/wayang-batik-course/

Read : 5672 time(s).

If you are from outside Yogyakarta and want to visit this place by travel agency services,
please contact:

Maharatu Tour and Travel

Jl. Sisingamangaraja No. 27 Yogyakarta.
Telp. +62 274 8373005. Fax. +62 274 379250
Email : maharatu@maharatu.com -maharatu257@yahoo.com
Website : www.maharatu.com

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