Have you ever wanted to create art that you can wear? KID Museum’s Batik workshop allowed kids to learn about Indonesian culture while creating traditional fabric art. Rumah Indonesia, an independent non-profit in Washington DC, led the workshop along with KID employee Dya.
Batik instructor, Wita, started the workshop with a little Indonesian history lesson. She explained that all batik patterns symbolize something. One of the patterns explained was the Sido Mukti pattern, worn only by a bride and a groom on their wedding day. Once the kids learned the history of batik, they moved to the batik station to start crafting. Workshop attendees traced cotton flower patterns, Kawung, on a piece of fabric with flour paste. Traditionally, hot wax is used to trace the pattern but flour paste worked just as well. Using paint and creativity, the kids then colored in their batiks using paint brushes and tons of colorful paint. Each batik was unique and different from the rest. Some kids used several colors to decorate their batiks, while others decided to use a single color.
Each attendee was able to decorate two pieces of batik– one to be used in the KID Museum quilt and one to take home. Thank you Rumah Indonesia for bringing the fun of batik to KID Museum! Check out their website to learn more about their interactive programs focusing on traditional values of Indonesian culture– Rumah Indonesia.
